Polish PM resists calls to resign

Mr Belka says he never collaborated with communist secret services

Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka is resisting opposition calls to resign over allegations he had collaborated with communist-era secret services.

An official file which he asked to be released shows he signed a document agreeing to provide information during a study trip to the US.

The opposition says he lied when he said he did not sign anything agreeing to co-operate with the secret services.

The file shows he was contacted before he left for the US on a scholarship.

The leader of the main opposition party Civic Platform said the controversy was crippling Mr Belka at a time when he needed to be an active player in EU talks.

"In this difficult moment... it would be good for the government to be led by someone not facing such charges," Donald Tusk told a news conference.

"It is sure that Belka signed a document agreeing to collaborate," he said, adding that such a person "should not hold the post of prime minister."

Any hint of collaboration with the communist secret police is the hot political issue now, says the BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw.

Politicians from Poland's right-wing opposition wanted to publicise the file in order to discredit Mr Belka and his unpopular government ahead of elections in the autumn, our correspondent says.

'No information'

According to the file, in 1984 Mr Belka signed a document agreeing to inform the Polish secret services if he were approached by US intelligence officers, and to seek potential informers for Poland, the Associated Press news agency reports.

The final report in the file says Mr Belka provided Polish intelligence with "no important information" on his return from the US, Poland's PAP news agency, who saw the file, said.

Mr Belka has repeatedly denied ever collaborating with the communist secret police.

He said he had been cleared of the charge by a special ombudsman and he considered the matter closed.

The prime minister asked for the 68-page file to be declassified after he was accused of lying to a parliamentary commission earlier this year.

Being approached by communist secret agents ahead of a trip was routine for many scholars leaving Poland at that time, he said.

"I have signed the instruction and I didn't make a secret of it. But I did not treat it as a commitment to co-operate with secret services," he said.