Polish Talks Stumble Over 2 Participants

Plans for talks between the government and opposition stalled today as authorities objected to two Solidarity participants and Lech Walesa refused a meeting to discuss the matter.

Walesa said in a telephone interview that he will not accept a demand that he meet Wednesday with Interior Minister Gen. Czeslaw Kiszczak to discuss objections to the banned trade union’s delegation to the long-awaited talks on Poland’s future.

“I will not allow any personnel changes,” Walesa said. “It could be a precedent, a dangerous precedent for the future.”

Government spokesman Jerzy Urban said earlier that a fourth preparatory meeting between Walesa and Kiszczak was “indispensable” for the talks to begin.

No Need for Meeting

The government objects to two people proposed by Solidarity to participate and wants clarification on whether the two--Solidarity advisers Jacek Kuron and Adam Michnik--agree to respect Poland’s constitutional order, Urban said.

He said Walesa and Kiszczak should meet Wednesday, and if they settled their differences, the talks could begin Friday.

But Walesa, national chairman of Solidarity, said from his home in Gdansk that he will reject any government interference in the composition of the opposition delegation.

He said he does not see the need for another preparatory meeting with Kiszczak. They have met three times since Aug. 31.

‘Stubbornness’ Charged

Walesa said church mediator Andrzej Stelmachowski is fully empowered to negotiate any other procedural or technical matters on his behalf.

Urban charged that Solidarity’s “stubbornness” is preventing the talks from beginning and he said it would be pointless to hold them without Solidarity’s participation.

But he said the Friday date does not represent an ultimatum, and said the government will be willing to meet later, assuming that questions about participation and other technical matters are resolved. “We will not lack patience,” Urban said.

Walesa said he has not given up hope for the talks to bring about “understanding and the implementation of pluralism” but he said another meeting with Kiszczak is unnecessary because major problems “have all been settled and those remaining minor things can be settled by other people.”