Poland Is Big News in West but Not in East

LONDON â€”  Historic change and daunting challenges in Poland were bannered in the Western press Saturday but given decidedly less coverage in the East Bloc. A smiling Pope John Paul II called the developments in his homeland “a step forward.â€�

“All that has been done is very important,� the pontiff, visiting Spain, said of the nomination of his friend, Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki, as prime minister. “It’s not easy.�

Coverage in East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria was restrained. In Romania, where the government has been hostile to liberalization in Poland, the events were not reported at all.

Many Soviet newspapers carried a report from the official Tass news agency quoting Polish Communist leaders as complaining about the “confrontational actions of the leaders of the opposition.�

One of the few commentaries to appear in Soviet papers was in Moskovskaya Pravda, where East European specialist Mikhail Tretyakov stressed the dangers of letting Poland’s government crisis drag on.

“The prolonging of the process of forming the government does not further social consolidation, the establishment of order and the removal of the country from its state of crisis,� Tretyakov wrote.

Yugoslavia’s Tanjug news agency took a more positive approach: “Government crisis enters calmer waters,� it said. Reports in the Hungarian news media also were supportive.

China’s official New China News Agency carried factual reports but no commentary on the developments in Poland.

Poland was the lead story in most French papers Saturday, with the pointed exception of the Communist Party’s L’Humanite, which put its report on Page 10.

An editorial in the leftist Liberation newspaper said that “the choice of a prime minister from Solidarity’s ranks is beyond any possible contest one of the most important events since Yalta. But the road leading Poland to democracy remains long.�

Le Figaro, in an editorial, said a Solidarity-led government “will have only a short honeymoon.�

Some Italian newspapers played up the role of Poland’s Roman Catholic Church. “Close Follower of the Pope Will Be Premier in Warsaw,� said the headline in the Communist Party daily L’Unita.

In a commentary in Corriere Della Sera of Milan, Arrigo Levi said the “rules of behavior� under Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev are now more evident.

“But much remains unknown: do these rules really apply for all the countries of Eastern Europe . . . not only for Hungary, but also for Czechoslovakia? . . . And for East Germany? In reality, we don’t know,� Levi said.