3/28/2007

Poland starts considering U.S. request to host missile defense base

Poland's National Security Council on Tuesday started considering a U.S. proposal to build part of a missile defense system in the country, but postponed a decision on whether NATO should be involved in the process.

The council's head, Wladyslaw Stasiak, said the panel would convene again soon to produce recommendations for the government. He did not give a date.

Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a council member, said the U.S. request must be examined carefully "because it has very serious implications for ... the security of Europe and of Poland, not only of the U.S."

He also noted hosting a site would likely further strengthen ties with Washington.

"If the missile defense site is placed in Poland, relations will be even stronger," he said. "From Poland's point of view, this would be a better situation."

The National Security Council is a 12-member advisory body that includes parliament speakers and key government ministers.

The U.S. has proposed establishing missile defense sites in Poland and the neighboring Czech Republic — angering Russia, whose leaders have warned the plan could spark a new arms race.

Kaczynski said that if Moscow wants to "talk with us on the subject, we will talk."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the rotating European Union presidency, has appealed for dialogue and suggested that the U.S. should also include other allies by holding discussions through NATO.

Although the council made no decision on possible NATO involvement, Kaczynski said he personally sees missile defense as a "bilateral" issue.

That echoed remarks made by President Lech Kaczynski, his twin brother, who said Saturday that "I feel these are bilateral issues between Poland and the United States."

Ahead of the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Andrzej Lepper, head of the junior coalition Self-Defense party, said his party would not support hosting the missile defense site unless it knows all the details and is convinced the placement would increase Poland's security.

The final decision on whether to host the missile system will rest with parliament, which is expected to vote only after months of negotiations between Warsaw and Washington.

"We should definitely act not with haste, but with resolution," the prime minister said. Sometimes, he said, "a chance disappears if you don't extend a hand."

Source:iht.com



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