The SLD and President pressure Belka to stay in office beyond May 5

Senior SLD politicians tried to convince Belka that if he resigns on May 5, the summit will lose a lot of prestige due to the fact that lower ranking politicians will attend the event. President Aleksander Kwaśniewski has applied similar arguments and is encouraging the Prime Minister to stay on as long as possible. However, Marek Belka insists that he will resign on May 5 and does not even consider any other date to leave the SLD in order to join the Democratic Party (PD). The President, according to SLD leader Józef Oleksy, will not accept Belka's resignation. Despite the tense relations between the SLD and the government the party will vote for the vote of no confidence for Economy Minister Jerzy Hausner, if the Prime Minister does not accept his resignation submitted on March 8. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A3) A.K.