POLAND:THE POLISH government has indicated that it will decide this week whether it is prepared to host part of a new US missile defence system on its territory.
The Polish government has procrastinated on the deal for months, unsure whether to agree a deal with the Bush administration or to wait for his successor.
"The negotiations are winding down and everything points to an agreement being signed this week," said Zbigniew Chlebowski, parliamentary leader of the ruling Civic Platform to Poland's PAP news agency. A government spokesman was unavailable for clarification yesterday.
Washington proposed the two-part missile shield 13 months ago: an anti-ballistic missile shield in northern Poland and a tracking radar facility in the neighbouring Czech Republic.
The system, scheduled to go online by 2013, would counter a perceived threat by "rogue" states, notably Iran.
The previous Polish administration of Jaroslaw Kaczynski was an enthusiastic supporter of the plan, but the current Tusk administration has been less enthusiastic, asking the US for assistance to modernise its own air defences.
In April, Prague agreed to house the radar station, but stop-start negotiations with Warsaw have made little progress.
Last week, Washington suggested that Lithuania could serve as an alternative site to Poland.
That prompted President Lech Kaczynski, a staunch advocate of the plan, to dispatch his chief of staff, Anna Fotyga, to Washington for talks - without informing the government.
"The mission has been accomplished," she told Polish television on her return. "I am convinced the Bush administration wants to bring the matter to its successful conclusion." Ms Fotyga declined to elaborate on whether agreement had been reached on US support for Poland's air defences.
The defence and foreign ministries reacted angrily to the news of her mission to Washington, saying that Ms Fotyga, foreign minister in the government of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, was not authorised to negotiate on Poland's behalf.
Whenever talks are in their final phase, only negotiators should take part in them, and Madam Minister Fotyga is not one of them, Mr Chlebowski said.
It is just the latest twist in a running battle for control of foreign policy between the Tusk administration and the presidential palace.
The government's chief negotiator for the Polish side, deputy foreign minister Witold Waszczykowski, has said talk of Lithuania was a "tool of pressure" to speed up negotiations.
After more than a year of talks, he said that President George Bush is anxious to seal the deal before he leaves office.
"The US knows that time is an issue," said Mr Waszczykowski.