WARSAW, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Germany's Lufthansa has expressed interest in bringing troubled Polish national air carrier PLL LOT [LOT.UL] into its Star Alliance, Poland's treasury ministry said in a statement after holding talks with the German airline. But the treasury stopped short of saying whether Lufthansa planned to buy a 25.1 percent stake in Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT from its collapsed strategic partner Swissair (SWSZn). "On Wednesday Treasury Minister Wieslaw Kaczmarek met Deutsche Lufthansa CEO Jurgen Weber...(who) expressed great interest in LOT joining the Star Alliance," the statement said. The ministry also said that the government will ultimately decide LOT's future by the end of February 2002. Last week, a deputy infrastructure minister said Lufthansa and British Airways (BAY) were looking at buying the stake in LOT, but British Airways denied any interest given a severe industry downturn. Luftansa declined to comment. Earlier, Swedish media reported that Scandinavian airline group SAS (SAS) (SAS) (SAS) also eyed the LOT stake. The government is keen to find a new partner for LOT, whose net loss more than tripled to 252 million zlotys in the first half of this year over the same period of 2000, to guarantee the national carrier's future after the demise of Swissair. The Star Alliance includes Singapore Airlines (SIAL), American United Airlines (UAL), Air Canada (AC) and Mexicana Airlines, owned by government-controlled holding firm Cintra . ©2001 Reuters Limited.