POLAND: Poland's deputy prime minister has suggested that "friction" in the ruling three-party coalition could lead to the collapse of the government that took office in May.
Andrzej Lepper, leader of the left-wing populist Self Defence party, accused prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski of planning a snap election for next year, a charge denied by officials in Mr Kaczynski's Law and Justice Party (PiS).
"Things are not going well in the coalition," said Mr Lepper, the agriculture minister, at the weekend.
"The actions of our coalition partners, especially Law and Justice, testify to the fact that elections are planned [ by PiS] for next year."
The stress within the coalition has been building for weeks. Mr Lepper has accused PiS leaders of trying to get his MPs to defect to their party. He also claims not to have been consulted on key legislative projects, and is unhappy with projected spending on agriculture and social welfare in next year's budget.
Although his rural-based Self Defence party is close to Polish farmers, he has had a difficult time keeping those core voters happy since entering government.
A Russian ban on Polish meat and vegetables, in place since last year, has crippled the important agriculture sector. Furthermore, scorching summer temperatures will cause a 40 per cent drop in this year's harvest yield.
To overcome these hardships, Mr Lepper is calling for almost eight billion zloty (€2 billion) extra spending on agriculture and social welfare next year - this has been rejected by the PiS.
"Perhaps the best solution in such a situation will be early elections," said Mr Lepper, although he has ruled out bringing down the coalition himself.
Tadeusz Cymanski of Law and Justice told Polish television that his party had "no secret plans" for early elections.