NID: POLAND: NON-COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT TO BE ANNOUNCED

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe: A 30-Year Legacy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06826758
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2019
• Publication Date: August 18, 1989

Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826758
POLAND: Non-Communist Government To Be Announced
After meeting parliamentary leaders yesterday. President Jaruzelski
reportedly agreed to a landmark coalition government to be led by a
non-Communist and dominated by Solidarity, the crucial choice of
prime minister will be announced soon.
Jaruzelski has agreed to a Solidarity
proposal tor the opposition and the United Peasants' and Dcmocr ti
Parties to form a coalition government committed to reform.
the Communists apparently will hold at
least the Internal Affairs and Defense Ministries. Lech Walesa has
hinted he might accept the prime-ministersh p to promote stability.
but Jaruzelski is apparently considering seve -al other candidates,
including Solidarity caucus leader Bronislaw Geremek and union
leader Tadeusz Mazowiccki. A Communist Farty Central Committee
plenum is scheduled to meet tomorrow to discuss the crisis.
Comment: Any deal between Jaruzelski and NValcsa, which almost
certainly would be cleared with Moscow, will be widely accepted as a
reasonable way out of the current crisis. But Jaruzelski alone must
decide on the new premier; he has a short list of
candidates�including at least one non-Solid irity independent�
acceptable to the opposition. Stiff party resistance tomorrow could
prolong the crisis, but Jaruzelski probably expects to prevail over
hardliners in any showdown. Even if Walesa s not selected, he would
remain a top choice to head a future government if this coalition fails.
The prospect of a non-Communist or opposi; ion-led government has
drawn a cautious reaction in Eastern Europe: the Hungarians claim
such a government would not threaten the Warsaw Pact and could
accelerate Hungary's progress toward multiparty elections.
Only a Solidarity-led government would haw enough popular
credibility to convince the nation to make painful sacrifices needed
for economic reform. Solidarity has not yet fashioned a coherent
reform program, however, and would probably renew its calls for
a US-led "Marshall Plan" for Poland, to a ttrie of as much as
$10 billion, to buy time to forge a consensus on reforms.
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Poland
All Poles agree that the political crisis can be settled only through the personal intervention of both
Wojciech Jaruzelski and Lech N'alesa. President Jaruzelski, despite his reputation as the father of martial
law, habitually has been slow to choose between courses of action proposed by reformers and hardliners.
Walesa, although admired by Poles as a man of action, has stood above the political fray since early this year.
rinrSaczgl.
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Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826758