Warsaw - Poland will begin talks next month on entering the European Exchange Rate Mechanism 2 (ERM-2) and should join by May or June, deputy finance minister Ludwik Kotecki said in a TV interview on Monday.

The ERM-2 is seen as the precursor to joining the euro itself, which the country's Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, has said recently he wants Poland to adopt by 2012.

A qualifying country is required to spend at least two years in ERM-2 and run a budget deficit no more than 3 per cent of GDP before it can drop its national currency and adopt the euro.

Vienna  - Polish regional politician Marek Nawara remained in critical condition Sunday after suffering severe head injuries while skiing in Austria, according to a spokeswoman at his hospital in the Austrian town of Klagenfurt.

"It's impossible to make any prediction at this stage," spokeswoman Nathalie Wurzer said when asked about Nawara's chances of regaining full health.

The premier of the Malopolska province was skiing in Sankt Margarethen in the province of Salzburg on Friday when he fell and hit his head on the piste surface.

Nawara, 52, suffered severe head and brain injuries and is in an induced coma.

Krakow, Poland - NATO defence ministers spent much of their time talking about anorak material like "headquarters reform" and "transformation", NATO-speak for bigger and better guns, at a snow- bedecked meeting in Krakow this week.

So you know something far more newsworthy is brewing when tabloid journalists also turn up.

The issue on everyone's mind? The next NATO chief.

The mandate of the current secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, a smooth former foreign minister from Amsterdam, expires in July.

Krakow, Poland - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Friday said European nations were providing "significant" contributions to NATO's operations in Afghanistan and that any further help on the civilian side would be welcomed.

"We must intensify our efforts to bring security and stability to Afghanistan," Gates said, and it is "critical that the alliance provides enough troops to ensure that the August elections are credible."

Krakow, Poland - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Friday he remained hopeful that a "reasonable" deal could yet be reached with Kyrgyz officials preventing the closure of the United States' only air base in Central Asia, which supplies US and NATO operations in Afghanistan.

"I continue to believe that this is not a closed issue and there remains the potential at least to reopen this issue with the Kyrgyzs and reach a new agreement," Gates said at a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Krakow, Poland.

Krakow, Poland - NATO defence ministers were meeting in Krakow on Friday to discuss the future of the alliance, including the thorny issue of further expansion towards Russia's borders.

The first round of talks in the snowy Polish city was devoted to defining the alliance's strategies for the 21st century and improving the way it works as it gets ready to welcome new member states and see the possible return of France to its command structure.