Polish Premier Wants to See Walesa on Standoff

Premier Czeslaw Kiszczak, whose efforts to form a Cabinet have been opposed by Solidarity, called Saturday for a meeting with Lech Walesa to discuss the standoff and the concerns it has raised in the Soviet Union.

In an interview published by the official PAP news agency, Kiszczak said Poland “simply cannot afford a protracted impasse.”

Kiszczak also said two small Communist-aligned political parties that have entered into negotiations with officials of the Solidarity movement should remain loyal to the Communist Party.

Kiszczak’s public appeal for a meeting appeared to indicate a decision by Communist authorities that the time has come to end the political jockeying and hammer out an agreement with Solidarity on the form of the next government.

Walesa announced Monday that he would oppose any Cabinet assembled by Kiszczak. The Solidarity leader has been trying to forge alliances with the two minor parties who hold the parliamentary power balance in order to form a Solidarity-led government in the Soviet Union’s largest East Bloc ally.

Talks between Solidarity and the minor parties, the United Peasants and the Democrats, began Thursday.

A spokesman for Walesa, Janusz Paczek, said Saturday that he was not sure if Walesa was aware of Kiszczak’s call for a meeting. Walesa was unavailable for comment, and Paczek said no meeting will take place before Monday.

In the year since Communist authorities resumed dialogue with Solidarity, meetings between Walesa and Kiszczak at various government villas around Warsaw were the occasions of key compromises. Such meetings took place before and during the “round table” talks that led to legalizing the union, rewriting the constitution and admitting the opposition to Parliament.

Given the opposition’s overwhelming victories in June elections, both opposition and Communist politicians have argued that Solidarity’s endorsement is required for the next government to have public support.

The Soviet Union has expressed impatience with the political situation, and the Soviet ambassador to Poland met Friday with Kiszczak and with United Peasants Chairman Roman Malinowski and Democratic Chairman Jerzy Jozwiak.

In the PAP interview, Kiszczak was asked about Walesa’s bid to form a government.

“I would not treat the failure of Kiszczak’s mission as a personal tragedy,” he said. “However, this is not exclusively my personal matter. That is why I would not be able to neglect the effects of a government crisis.”

He said he has been “unable” to arrange substantive talks with Walesa since being named premier Aug. 2. “I would like such a talk to take place as soon as possible,” he said.