Polish leader: crisis may force early elections

WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- Trying to tough it out in an accelerating government crisis, Poland's prime minister said Thursday that early elections within weeks may be necessary to calm the situation sparked by eavesdropping on political leaders.

Donald Tusk called for the popular magazine Wprost — and other media — to release all of the secret recordings of leaders' private conversations that they may have. He said Poland was facing a "deep crisis" and that until it is all published the state will be unstable and his team vulnerable to blackmail.

The hastily arranged news conference on a national holiday sparked a whirl of speculation of an imminent dismissal of one or more officials, or possibly even Tusk's resignation. But responding to a journalist's question, Tusk said he saw no reason to step down.

"I will not resign in response to actions that, we all know, had criminal character, and, maybe were .... aimed at the government's resignation or fall," Tusk said.

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/polish-leader-crisis-may-force-083046384.html


WARSAW—A recording of a private conversation among Poland's top leaders over the nation's finances, leaked over the weekend, plunged the country into one of the worst crises since its center-right government came to power in 2007.

In the recording made by undisclosed people last year, Poland's central bank governor can be heard negotiating with a government minister over the terms under which the National Bank of Poland could help the cabinet as it struggled to keep the cash-strapped government's public debt within legal limits.

Marek Belka, the bank chief, can be heard telling Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz, the interior minister, that the bank could help the government on the condition that the then-finance minister, Jacek Rostowski, would be replaced, according to tapes released by weekly magazine Wprost. The bank has confirmed that the recordings are real, along with the identities of the people heard on them.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/polish-government-roiled-by-leaked-recording-of-finance-officials-1402844446