Poland's ruling party says to lift media curbs in parliament

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's ruling party said on Monday it would scrap plans to limit media access to parliament and invited opposition leaders to discuss a standoff in parliament, moves that could diffuse the biggest political crisis in years. Moves by the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party to curb the number of journalists in parliament, and their right to record proceedings, drove opposition lawmakers to start a sit-in in the legislature's main hall in mid-December. Tensions escalated further when PiS moved a vote on the 2017 budget to a side room. Senate Speaker Stanislaw Karczewski, told journalists on Monday the party have invited opposition leaders to a meeting at 2 p.m. (1300 GMT) to discuss the row. "We want to end the crisis in a conciliatory way ... We want for both sides to take a step back," Karczewski said. He gave no details on when the restrictions would end. It was unclear whether the main opposition grouping, the Civic Platform, would attend the meeting. (Reporting by Lidia Kelly, Agnieszka Barteczko, Anna Koper and Jakub Iglewski; Writing by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Andrew Heavens)