Administration Preparing New Steps to Aid Polish Leadership

The Bush Administration, under mounting pressure from Democrats to provide more aid to Poland, is preparing new measures to help the Warsaw government, including possible increases in economic assistance and naming a high-level official to manage the effort, officials said Thursday.

As an initial step, the Administration may send a team of experts to Poland to help the new Solidarity-led government draw up an economic plan that will ensure that Western aid will be well-spent, a senior official said.

The new effort--launched on the heels of President Bush’s announcement last week that he will double a $50-million program for food aid for Warsaw--is intended partly to blunt the drive by Democrats in Congress for a massive increase in U.S. aid.

‘Just Dumping Money’

“What the Congress is doing right now is wrong, in the sense that it is just dumping money out there without any particular program,” a senior official charged, referring to a Democratic proposal for more than $1.2 billion in aid to Poland over two years. “I don’t see how they can possibly spend it out.”

But he said Bush would be reluctant to veto such an aid package for fear of sending a signal that he is not serious about helping political and economic reforms in Poland.

The Administration is supporting a $119-million aid package over three years, plus the proposed $100 million in emergency food aid.

Administration officials said they strongly support increased multilateral aid to Poland through the International Monetary Fund and other institutions. But after meeting with Polish Finance Minister Leszek Balcerowicz and other Warsaw officials, they said they were struck by how ill-prepared the Poles appear to be to manage a large and complicated program of economic reform.

Lack of Experience

“One of the problems is that they’re venturing into areas where their experience is low if not nonexistent,” a senior official said. “One of the things that perhaps would be helpful is to go over there with people who can assess independently . . . what do they need to do?”

He also indicated that President Bush probably will appoint a senior official to help coordinate the program--”instead of everybody going off on their own and overwhelming the Poles with advice and other things.”