Brussels, 29/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Monday, a European Commission spokesperson said there was 'no reason' to be concerned that the announced resignation of Polish prime minister Leszek Miller on 2 May would have a negative impact on the preparation for Poland joining the EU. He pointed out that all accession countries, including Poland, had pledged to meet all the accession criteria by 1 May and he saw absolutely no reason at this stage for seeing a reason for concern in the changes since there is extremely broad consensus in Poland about the need to be fully prepared by 1 May. He said the Commission had not been given any information about any questioning of the appointment of the European Affairs Minister Danuta Huebner as Poland's Commissioner. He said Ms Huebner was the Commissioner designate and would be attending the European Parliament hearings.
On Friday, following a split in his party (the Social Democratic Alliance, SDA), Miller said he would be stepping down on 2 May, the day after Poland joined the EU. On Monday evening, President Kwasniewski was continuing his consultations over appointing a successor. Candidates include deputy prime minister Jozef Oleksy, foreign minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, and former finance minister Marek Belka, who is at present responsible for economic policy at the US civil administrsaion in Iraq. Warsaw sources suggest that Belka's name was put forward by Kwasniewski.