Polish government collapses as coalition breaks down

WARSAW, Poland -- The left-leaning government that has ruled Poland for just over a year collapsed Saturday after an emergency meeting between coalition partners broke down in a bitter dispute sparked by a new tax plan.

Prime Minister Leszek Miller said he will ask the president to dissolve the coalition and withdraw two Peasant Party ministers from the government.

He said his ex-communist Democratic Left Alliance party would try to rule as a minority government, seeking to revive the sagging economy if the divided parliament does not force him from office.

"I tried to prevent it," Miller said in a nationally televised address. "It turned out that the government cannot count on the support of the Peasant Party."

Until Saturday, the Peasant Party held the posts of deputy prime minister and the agriculture and environment ministries.

President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who has the power to form and dissolve governments, made no immediate comment.

It was not immediately known whether the opposition will call for a vote of no confidence. Miller's party holds 212 of the 460 seats in parliament.

Parliament speaker Marek Borowski, a member of the Democratic Left Alliance, warned that "if all parties try to paralyze the government's work, early elections will have to take place."

On Friday, the Democratic Left Alliance warned the coalition was in jeopardy because the Peasant Party rejected a new tax on cars to fund road construction and did not fully support Poland's bid to join the European Union.

An emergency meeting Saturday failed to resolve their differences, government spokesman Michal Tober said.

The meeting "confirmed that the continued functioning of the coalition with the Peasant Party would take place in the atmosphere of friction, bargaining and conflicts," Tober said.

Still, the breakdown in talks came as a surprise, as many expected Miller would seek to keep his government intact until a crucial referendum in June on entering the European Union.

Miller's government won elections on promises of returning Poland to prosperity. The government's popularity had declined amid record unemployment and a sagging economy.

Miller told the nation the government would not change its policies but continue to focus on economic growth, creating jobs and joining the EU. He said the cabinet would look for parliamentary support on these issues.

"I believe we will find such support," Miller said.

Among major parliamentary caucuses, only the leaders of the radical farmer Self-Defense party expressed interest Saturday in forming a coalition with the Democratic Left Alliance.

But Janina Paradowska, one of Poland's leading political commentators, indicated that the prime minister might be best advised to try to go it alone.

"Perhaps this government will be better off as a minority government," Paradowska said.