Poland to reply soon on US missile plan -paper

WARSAW, Feb 17 (Reuters) Poland will reply in the next two weeks to Washington's proposal to build an anti-missile base on Polish soil, the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza said today.

The response to last month's American offer had been delayed by the surprise resignation last week of Defence Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.

''Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has promised U.S.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Poland would reply to the American anti-missile base offer within two weeks,'' the paper quoted US State Department sources as saying.

It said the new defence minister, Aleksander Szczyglo, would travel to Washington soon with Warsaw's reply.

The United States has asked Poland and the Czech Republic to host parts of its multi-billion dollar global system designed to counter missiles potentially fired by what Washington calls rogue states.

Kaczynski told a news conference this week that he and his twin brother Lech, Poland's president, were in favour of the anti-missile shield saying it would bring Poland greater security.

Polish public opinion is divided and misgivings have emerged in the ruling coalition led by Kaczynski's conservative Law and Justice party.

''As of now, our position on the missile shield is negative,'' Andrzej Lepper, the leader of junior coalition partner Self-Defence, told a news conference on Saturday.

''The prime minister has said there is no detailed agreement so far. When such a proposal arises, we will discuss it, but for the time being we've got too little information to go on,'' Lepper said.

REUTERS SP DS1755