Polish PM says opposition too dependent on Germany

WARSAW, Aug 19 (Reuters) Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski accused the country's largest opposition party today of being too dependent on Germany and said its leader had a ''fascination'' for Poland's western neighbour.

With early elections looming after the collapse of the governing coalition last week, Kaczynski and his ruling rightist party have increasingly appealed to anti-German sentiments among voters to draw distinctions between parties.

Nationalistic rhetoric plays well with a segment of the Polish electorate, especially older voters who recall the brutal German occupation during the war.

In an interview with Wprost weekly, Kaczynski said a government led by the opposition Civic Platform (PO) party would mean a move away from his tough foreign relations policies, especially what he sees as his equal partnership with Germany.

''The Platform is overly dependent on the Germans,'' Kaczynski was quoted as saying in portions of the Wprost interview on the weekly's Web site.

''PO is strongly entwined in the structure of the European People's Party, which, unfortunately, means the acceptance of German dominance.'' The centre-right Civic Platform is a member of the European People's Party, Europe's largest transnational political party whose members also include Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union.

Kaczynski's Law and Justice party belongs to the EP's Alliance for the Europe of the Nations, which affiliates nationalistic parties.

Poland's relations with its large western neighbour have deteriorated to the worst levels in decades, as Kaczynski accused Germany of seeking to dominate the European Union and called for a law blocking the return of some property to Germans who left it behind on Polish territory after World War Two.

Kaczynski accused Civic Platform's leader Donald Tusk of showing a ''political fascination'' with ''German-ness''. Tusk is tipped to become the next prime minister if his party, as predicted by recent polls, wins the next elections.

Before losing the presidential elections in 2005, the campaign manager of Jaroslaw Kaczynski's twin brother Lech criticised Tusk for having a grandfather who belonged to Nazi Germany's army. Tusk has denied this.

REUTERS RKM BD1703