Friday Sunday, November Thursday, 10 November Wednesday, 9 November Tuesday, 8 November

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1 Slovak news compiled from wire services, U.S. press, RFE/RL, and other sources University of Pittsburgh, PA Slovak Studies Program, 1417 CL MARTIN VOTRUBA S L O V A K N E W S Monday Sunday, 7-13 November 1994 Friday Sunday, November Slovak Cabinet Urges Mečiar To Speed Up Talks... 2 Democratic Left Snubs Coalition with Election Winner... 2 HZDS and Caretaker Government Clash Over Rights... 3 Thursday, 10 November Students, Writers, Catholic Bishops Protest Parliament Changes... 3 Criticism by Hungarian-Minority Party Sparks HZDS Reaction... 4 Wednesday, 9 November President Demands Review of HZDS Parliament Bills,... 5 Roman Catholic Bishops Concerned over Politics... 5 Bratislava Asks Prague to Explain Government Comments... 5 Pravda: Washington Times Sees Slovakia among First to Join NATO... 6 Tuesday, 8 November Chairman of Parliament Wasn t Told of Most Points on the Agenda... 6 Canceled Privatizations to Be Challenged... 6 Slovak Telecom s Privatization on Hold... 7 Slovak Parliament Cancels Privatizations... 9 Parliament Chair: Bills Were Legal, HZDS Wants European Integration... 9 Caretaker Premier Slams Changes in Government-sponsored Media... 9 Slovak PEN Club Protests Government-sponsored Media Changes... 9 Syndicate of Journalists Assails Changes in Government-sponsored Media ZRS Leader Says Didn t Vote against Mečiar in March Romania Blasts West for Favoring Slovakia, Central Europe Monday, 7 November President, Cabinet Want to Overturn Parliament s Decisions Parliament Officials Call Bills Legal... 11

2 7-13 November 1994, Slovak News 2 Slovak Defense Officials In Germany HZDS Pulls Government Shares from Bratislava Stock Exchange Presiden Rejects Bill to Remove Two Government Ministers Turning Back the Clock in Slovakia Friday Sunday, November 1994 SLOVAK CABINET URGES MEČIAR TO SPEED UP TALKS Bratislava Three parties supporting the Moravčík Government on 13 November issued a statement to TASR asking the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) 1 and its coalition partners to form a new Cabinet immediately. The declaration followed decisions on 12 November by both the Party of the Democratic Left (SDĽ) 2 and the Social Democratic Party of Slovakia (SDSS) 3 to end coalition talks with HZDS. HZDS responded by saying it has never given up its responsibility to form a government. It also noted that the Moravčík cabinet was pressuring HZDS to form a minority Cabinet immediately because it has neglected its duties, including the preparation of the 1995 budget. In a televised debate, Mečiar said he expected the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) 4 and SDĽ to change their minds on joining a coalition following local elections, which are scheduled for November. DEMOCRATIC LEFT SNUBS COALITION WITH ELECTION WINNER Bratislava Members of Slovakia s reformed communist party said Saturday, 12 November, they would not form a coalition Government with ex-prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar, who won recent elections but has not yet formed a Cabinet. The decision at a leadership meeting of the Democratic Left (SDĽ) Party dampened prospects that a Mečiar-led Government will form soon to replace the interim Government of Prime Minister Jozef Moravčík. Mečiar s Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) won the elections on a populist platform six weeks ago with 35% of the vote and 61 seats in the 150-member Parliament. Mečiar stunned opponents in a Parliamentary session 4 November when his party teamed up with the extreme right Slovak National Party (SNS) 5 and the leftist Workers Party 1 Hnutie za demokratické Slovensko. 2 Strana demokratickej ľavice. 3 Sociálnodemokratická strana Slovenska. 4 Kresťansko-demokratické huntie. 5 Slovenská národná strana.

3 7-13 November 1994, Slovak News 3 (ZRS) 6 for 83 seats and passed a string of controversial laws. The Mečiar-led voting bloc assumed effective control of top committees overseeing the state broadcast media, privatization, and the state intelligence service. Since HZDS continues in executing its power in such a way which is unacceptable to SDĽ... SDĽ will not negotiate with HZDS in participating in a Government, said an SDĽ statement released at a news conference Saturday. Although the Workers Party (ZRS) has joined Mečiar in a loose Parliamentary pact, it has refused to enter a Government with him. His only ally is SNS, giving him 70 seats, just shy of a parliamentary majority. (Reuters) HZDS AND CARETAKER GOVERNMENT CLASH OVER RIGHTS Bratislava In an interview with Slovak Radio on 11 November, outgoing Premier Jozef Moravčík said many of the decisions made by Parliament during its first two sessions were unconstitutional. He noted that his cabinet has taken an oath to continue in office until a new Government can be formed. Following the interview, the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), which won the recent Parliamentary elections, released a statement to TASR claiming that Moravčík and other Cabinet Ministers are now civil servants and can no longer be considered constitutional officials. HZDS expressed surprise that Slovak Radio, unlike Slovak Television, continued to broadcast its regular Friday interview with Moravčík, although only officials appointed under the terms of the Constitution have the right to allocated air time. Thursday, 10 November 1994 STUDENTS, WRITERS, CATHOLIC BISHOPS PROTEST PARLIAMENT CHANGES Bratislava University students in Bratislava are organizing to demonstrate next week (Thursday, 17 November) against what they see as a drift towards Parliamentary dictatorship in their Central European country. The students say they will protest what they consider the arrogance of the new Parliament, which last week purged 38 top officials of several Slovak institutions. Among those removed were the popular Rector of Bratislava s university 7 and the head of Slovak Radio and Television. 6 Združenie robotníkov Slovenska. 7 This is a mistake. Juraj Švec, the-then Rector (Chancellor) of Comenius University, was a Member of Parliament at the same time. He was moved to the Parliament s Environmental Committee, which was seen as a snub by some comentators in Slovakia. But Švec was still the Rector of Comenius University. The Parliament did not have the power to appoint or dismiss academic officials. M.V.

4 7-13 November 1994, Slovak News 4 The demonstration is planned to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the Czechoslovak revolution. 8 In a 23-hour Parliamentary session last week, Slovakia s biggest party the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) formed voting alliances with right and left wing parties. With opposition members outside the chamber, HZDS leader Vladimír Mečiar forced through a series of far-reaching measures stripping away the authority of the caretaker Government. But despite his dominance of Parliament, Mr. Mečiar has declined to form a Government. Some observers say Mr. Mečiar is trying to humiliate the caretaker Government and the Slovak President, Michal Kováč. Mr. Mečiar s party received 35% of the votes in the 1 October election, three times more than its nearest rival. Mr. Mečiar has been Prime Minister twice before. At an international writer s meeting in Prague, the Slovak chapter of the Pen Club protested the suppression of free speech in Slovakia. The Parliamentary actions are called an attack against the news media and democratic institutions. The Slovak Conference of (Roman Catholic) Bishops has voiced grave concern about the Parliament s action. It urges cooperation between Parliament and the President. The bishops say Mr. Mečiar should quickly form a Government and end the political uncertainty. The Parliament passed a no confidence vote on the Slovak Privatization Minister, and perhaps 55 privatization projects worth up to 145-million dollars have been suspended. Danish and French firms that had received government approval for investments in Slovak companies have had those deals called into question. One business leader says by attacking privatization, Mr. Mečiar reveals an opposition to change and a fully functioning market economy. (VOA) CRITICISM BY HUNGARIAN-MINORITY PARTY SPARKS HZDS REACTION Budapest Hungarian Christian Democratic Movement (MKDH-MKDM) 9 Deputy Chairman Pál Csáky spoke at the Christian Democratic People s Party (KDNP) 10 headquarters in Budapest about the situation in Slovakia following Vladimír Mečiar s election victory. Noting that Mečiar is capable of doing anything to gain absolute power, that he does not believe in democratic principles and does not keep his promises, Csáky warned Hungarian politicians that it would be a mistake to start negotiating a friendship treaty 8 17 November was recognized as Interantional Students Day in Czechoslovakia, and the events around the officially permitted student demonstration in Prague on that day in 1989 are usually seen as the triggering factor for the collapse of communism in the country. The preceding student demonstration in Bratislava on 16 Novovember, 1989, is generally not mentioned. M.V. 9 A Hungarian-minority party in Slovakia: Maďarské kresťanskodemokratické hnutie Magyar Kereszténydemokrata Mozgalom. 10 A party in Hungary: Kereszténydemokrata Néppárt.

5 7-13 November 1994, Slovak News 5 with Slovakia under the given circumstances. Although Csáky said it was not in the Hungary s interest to have an unstable Slovakia as its neighbor, he noted that he did not foresee any reasonable solutions under the present circumstances. Without the Soviet empire the Slovak absolutist regime cannot survive, and an Iliescu-type of political maneuvering might develop, Csáky warned. On 10 November ČTK reported that the press department of Mečiar s party, the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia, asked Csáky for a public apology for slandering the Slovak Republic. Wednesday, 9 November 1994 PRESIDENT DEMANDS REVIEW OF HZDS PARLIAMENT BILLS, Bratislava On 9 November Slovak President Michal Kováč returned several controversial laws passed by Parliament on 3 November, Reuters and ČTK report. One is the cancellation of all direct sale privatization projects approved by the Moravčík Government since 6 September, and the other concerns an amendment to the privatization law which transfers authority over privatization from the government to the National Property Fund (FNM). 11 The two laws had first been rejected by the Moravčík Government, which remains in power until a new cabinet can be formed. The Moravčík Government s request that Kováč also reject the no-confidence votes in Privatization Minister Milan Janičina and Interior Minister Ladislav Pittner prompted Kováč to ask the Constitutional Court for a review of the matter. Kováč accepted the Parliament s decision to dismiss Attorney General Vojtech Bacho, but he said he would not approve the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia s (HZDS) new candidate, Ľudovít Hudek, until his credentials could be reviewed. ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS CONCERNED OVER POLITICS Badín, Central Slovakia Meeting on 9 November in the Central Slovak village of Badín, the Conference of Slovak Bishops issued a statement expressing serious concern about the current political and social situation in Slovakia. BRATISLAVA ASKS PRAGUE TO EXPLAIN GOVERNMENT COMMENTS Bratislava Slovak Foreign Minister Eduard Kukan asked Czech Ambassador to Slovakia Filip Šedivý for an official explanation concerning a recent statement by Czech Prime Minister Václav Klaus, ČTK reports on 9 November. In a recent interview with the Czech newspaper Lidové noviny, Klaus said that his government is waiting for Slovakia s new cabinet, having been basically unable to negotiate with anyone since spring. 11 Fond národného majetku.

6 7-13 November 1994, Slovak News 6 PRAVDA: WASHINGTON TIMES SEES SLOVAKIA AMONG FIRST TO JOIN NATO Pravda: Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary will be the first countries to be seriously considered for NATO membership, said The Washington Times. But it will not happen before the year 2000, and it is possible that they might wait till Tuesday, 8 November 1994 CHAIRMAN OF PARLIAMENT WASN T TOLD OF MOST POINTS ON THE AGENDA Pravda: Chairman of Parliament Ivan Gašparovič had advanced knowledge of only two issues on the agenda of the second session of the Parliament, which were no-confidence votes for Ministers Janičina and Pittner. He told Slovak Radio that the other bills were proposed during the session. He said it would have been more suitable if the Prosecutor General had been invited to the session, but it was impossible to get hold of him. CANCELED PRIVATIZATIONS TO BE CHALLENGED Bratislava Slovakia s outgoing Government moved on Tuesday to save the privatization of some 50 enterprises after allies of former Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar forced through a Parliamentary vote cancelling them. The centrist coalition, which is still in office five weeks after losing elections, will ask President Michal Kováč to return to Parliament legislation cancelling the sales for further review, Deputy Prime Minister Roman Kováč said. It will do the same with another law transferring powers to approve direct sales of state assets to the National Property Fund, the state agency charged with administering privatization, from the government, he said. According to our experts, both of these laws are considered to be unconstitutional, and that s why we ll pass them to the president, Roman Kováč told reporters. Mečiar s Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), which won last month s elections but has so far failed to form a coalition government, forged a loose voting alliance to pass a string of laws early on Friday. The votes also placed the National Property Fund (FNM) under the control of Mečiar supporters and allies. The cancelled privatizations are those made by direct sales to investors which the administration of Prime Minister Jozef Moravčík approved after 6 September. The law does not affect state assets sold through public tenders or the stock market. The Mečiar-led voting bloc, which includes the Slovak National Party (SNS) and the leftwing Worker s Party (ZRS), said the Moravčík Government had broken a promise not to privatize in the weeks leading to the Parliamentary elections. But government officials have said that Parliament was toying with property rights and Slovakia s financial reputation to score a short-term political victory. Gabriel Palacka,

7 7-13 November 1994, Slovak News 7 outgoing State Secretary at the Privatization Ministry, told Reuters that the Government had approved direct sales since Mečiar s Government was ousted in a Parliamentary confidence vote on 11 March. Most of the sales affected by the proposal were small to medium-sized businesses valued at million crowns ($32,000 to $1 million), but that a handful were valued at about one billion crowns ($32 million). Palacka said that if Parliament passed the same law again, he expected the Government would appeal against the decision to Slovakia s highest court, the Constitutional Court. It is stated in the constitution that private ownership is protected and cannot be cancelled, he said. But a top HZDS official has suggested that the cancellations might not be final. Parliamentary Chairman Ivan Gašparovič said the law was meant to review the recent privatizations, the Pravda newspaper reported. Nevertheless local and foreign investors are confused. We ve been waiting for this privatization for so long, said František Kollár, Vice Director General of building materials maker Izomat. The company was approved for sale to Rockwood International AS of Denmark on October 25. If this project is really cancelled, it will be bad for the company, Mogens Falk, Vice President in Rockwood s legal department, told Reuters. (Reuters) SLOVAK TELECOM S PRIVATIZATION ON HOLD Bratislava Plans to privatize Slovakia s telecommunications monopoly Slovenské telekomunikácie (ST) may be stalled another year due to political instability and policy clashes, company officials say. Former prime minister Vladimír Mečiar, who seized control of privatization in a stunning parliamentary maneuver last week, seems determined to stop foreign investors from taking a stake even though the company badly needs their capital. The transformation of state-owned ST into a joint stock company, the first step towards privatization, has already been postponed over the last year. Now company officials fear that a foreign shareholder, which should bring capital vital for modernizing the outdated and unreliable system, will not be found until 1996, if at all. We re somehow frozen, Ivan Marták, ST vice-president for marketing and sales, told Reuters. All this stalling can be ascribed to the present political instability, and because the current government lacked the political courage to (privatize ST) before the elections. Mečiar s nationalist Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) took more than a third of the vote in last month s election on an anti-privatization platform. So far he has failed

8 7-13 November 1994, Slovak News 8 to form a coalition Government. But he struck a voting pact in Parliament last Friday to ram through a number of policy changes including replacing the leadership of the National Property Fund, a state body charged with privatizing state assets, with his own supporters. Some powers were also transferred from the Privatization Ministry, which is still controlled by outgoing Prime Minister Jozef Moravčík, to the National Property Fund (FNM). To (Mečiar) we re sort of national silver, a money-making machine, said Marták. We know that if HZDS privatizes ST, it will sell maybe only 20% of the shares, and that those would go to (ST) management, not to foreign investors. Marták said it seemed certain that some senior ST officials would be fired if Mečiar s HZDS formed a new government. But we will do everything in our power to change their minds, and to persuade them to take on a strategic investor, he said. We re still hoping that the company will be changed from a state-owned company to a joint stock company by 1995, but right now everything seems possible. Mečiar brought privatization to a virtual halt before he fell last March in a Parliamentary confidence vote. The present centrist coalition of Moravčík resumed privatizing, but not ST. Deputy Prime Minister Brigita Schmögnerová told Reuters that not privatizing ST was one of things we regrettably did not have enough time to do. Transport and Communications Ministry officials say ST is expected to become a joint stock company next year. The basic plan now is to transform ST into a joint stock company some time in 1995, Robert Martinko, the ministry s director of communications, said shortly before Friday s votes. We re looking at mid-1996 to issue a public tender for a strategic investor, he said, adding that the tender would be for at least 26% of the company stock, with the state keeping a 51% stake. ST, however, wants 35% of the stock to be sold to two strategic partners, each getting 17.5%, Marták said. Keeping ST in state hands could slow down a drive towards a restructuring plan already in place. In August 1993 the government approved a policy for telecommunications development with a target of providing 30 lines per 100 inhabitants by the year 2000, up from the current 17 lines. Full digitalization is set for the year In 1994 Slovakia received $240 million from international lending institutions to be disbursed over the next three years for rebuilding the telecommunications network. The plan, however, calls for an additional 50 billion crowns ($1.6 billion) which is expected to come from foreign investors. We want a market- and profit-driven company, and the only way to do that is to privatize and attract domestic and foreign capital, Marták said. Without outside capital, we re not going to meet domestic telecommunications demands. (Reuters)

9 7-13 November 1994, Slovak News 9 SLOVAK PARLIAMENT CANCELS PRIVATIZATIONS Bratislava Parliament s moves during its first two sessions have sparked protest from home and abroad. Especially controversial was the decision to cancel all direct sale privatization projects since 6 September. According to reports in The Journal of Commerce and Reuters on 8 November, between 38 and 55 privatization projects valued at up to 4.5 billion crowns ($145 million) could be canceled, and three of the firms sold involved direct foreign investment. One French investor said that retroactive cancellation of sales would break international law. PARLIAMENT CHAIR: BILLS WERE LEGAL, HZDS WANTS EUROPEAN INTEGRATION Bratislava On 8 November Parliament Chairman and HZDS member Ivan Gašparovič spoke on Slovak TV, rejecting criticism that the first two Parliament sessions were undemocratic and reassuring the Slovak public that all steps taken were in compliance with the constitution. He said the measures were undertaken for the sake of stability, order and respect for the law. Pravda (9 Nov.): All decisions of the Parliament were in full accordance with the Constitution. I strongly disagree with the opinions that the sessions were not democratic, said Ivan Gašparovič. He also said that Slovakia s orientation towards a market economy and full integration into democratic European structures will not change. CARETAKER PREMIER SLAMS CHANGES IN GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED MEDIA Bratislava Concerning the changes in Slovak TV and Radio, on 8 November Ľubomír Lintner, spokesman for the Government of outgoing Premier Jozef Moravčík, accused HZDS of being behind the removal of a TV editor whom the party had accused of bias in reporting on the events in the parliament. Lintner criticized the cancellation of a scheduled TV appearance by Moravčík on 8 November, as well as the elimination of the TV program Pressclub. Sme (9 Nov.): Ľubomír Pilz, the Chief of News Production Department of Slovak Television, called off Svetozár Košický, the Chief of Domestic Affairs Department. Pilz said Košický was called off because of a lack of organization in his department, and not implementing a training program for young journalists. Košický will stay in the Domestic Affairs Department as a top commentator. SLOVAK PEN CLUB PROTESTS GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED MEDIA CHANGES Prague In a statement given to the media on 8 November in Prague, representatives of the Slovak section of the International Writers Organization (PEN), protested against the dismissal of the Slovak Radio and Television boards. The statement expressed fears that

10 7-13 November 1994, Slovak News 10 freedom of speech is being infringed upon in Slovakia and that the election only of representatives of the new Parliamentary majority to the boards is a clear violation of the principle of independence of the media. During the initial sessions of the new Parliament, Vladimír Mečiar s Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) and its allies replaced a large number of officials in various institutions, including broadcasting boards, with their own followers, gaining control over those institutions. The PEN Club also expressed alarm over the selection of Dušan Slobodník as chairman of Parliament s Foreign Affairs Committee and said this casts a shadow over the name of Slovakia abroad. Slobodník has been embroiled in a controversy over his activities as a teenager during World War II. SYNDICATE OF JOURNALISTS ASSAILS CHANGES IN GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED MEDIA Pravda: The Slovak Syndicate of Journalists does not approve and is astonished by the manner in which the Slovak Television and Slovak Radio Councils members were dismissed, says a statement by the Syndicate. ZRS LEADER SAYS DIDN T VOTE AGAINST MEČIAR IN MARCH Pravda (9 Nov.): Workers Association (ZRS) Chair Ján Ľupták confirmed Tuesday, 8 November, that he did not vote in the no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar in March as he was not present at the session. On account of Miroslav Kočnár, a ZRS MP, being the Chairman of the Mandate and Immunity Committee, he said that there is no need that the Chairman to be a lawyer. It is enough to have a sober overview, he said. ROMANIA BLASTS WEST FOR FAVORING SLOVAKIA, CENTRAL EUROPE Bucharest Romanian Defense Minister Gheorghe Tinca said on 8 November that the West is discriminating among the emerging democracies of East Central Europe in terms of cooperation and security. He said some of the former Communist countries are receiving more military aid than others, and this could result in a dangerous military imbalance in the East. Tinca addressed the second day of a symposium in which a delegation from the Western European Union is also participating. He did not say which countries are the victims of discrimination, but the RFE/RL Bucharest correspondent said Romanian officials have often criticized what they perceive as a Western preference for Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

11 7-13 November 1994, Slovak News 11 Monday, 7 November 1994 PRESIDENT, CABINET WANT TO OVERTURN PARLIAMENT S DECISIONS Bratislava On 7 November presidential spokesman Anton Baláž told TASR that President Michal Kováč has asked legal experts to study the constitutionality of Parliament s no-confidence vote in Interior Minister Ladislav Pittner and Privatization Minister Milan Janičina following their resignation on 3 November. According to Slovak law, Government members must resign at the end of the first session of Parliament but remain in office until a new Cabinet can be formed. It is the President s duty to appoint and remove Government members, and Kováč said he would make his decision by 9 November. Meanwhile, outgoing Premier Jozef Moravčík said he would not sign the law passed by Parliament which cancels all direct sale privatization projects approved by his Government since 6 September. Moravčík said the law is unconstitutional and noted that should Parliament approve the law once again, he will ask the Constitutional Court to review it. In a statement issued on 7 November the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) said that the reason for the failure of coalition talks is that certain representatives of the Common Choice and Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) aim to discredit HZDS as a political body, questioning the party s ability to compromise and find political partners. PARLIAMENT OFFICIALS CALL BILLS LEGAL Pravda (8 Nov.): Ivan Gašparovič, Ján Ľupták, and Augustín Marián Húska, the three highest officials of Parliament, informed President Michal Kováč on Monday, 7 November, that all steps and decisions made by Parliament were constitutional, said Anton Baláž, a spokesman to the President. The President will investigate whether the passed bills and the changes in personnel were constitutional, said Baláž. SLOVAK DEFENSE OFFICIALS IN GERMANY Bonn German and Slovak defense officials began four days of bilateral talks on defense issues in Bonn. Defense Ministry officials from both countries will discuss NATO s Partnership for Peace program, reforms in each country s army, and joint activities for Slovakia s six-member delegation is headed by Major General Ján Pančík. Also on 7 November, Slovak Army Chief of Staff, General Jozef Tuchyňa, began four days of talks with NATO officials in Heidelberg. The purpose of the visit is to acquaint Tuchyňa with the organizational structure of the command of NATO ground forces, to improve understanding among NATO members and those hoping to join the organization, as well as to discuss opportunities for joint training exercises, TASR reports.

12 7-13 November 1994, Slovak News 12 HZDS PULLS GOVERNMENT SHARES FROM BRATISLAVA STOCK EXCHANGE Bratislava In another signal that Slovak privatization has fallen captive to a political struggle, the state privatization agency on Monday withdrew a standing offer for bluechip shares for the second trading day in succession. Bratislava Stock Exchange (BSE) 12 officials quoted the National Property Fund (FNM) 13 as saying it would cease selling from its portfolio, which includes Slovakia s most liquid stocks, for an undetermined period. If they start to offer again in December, I think that would be a good sign, BSE trading director Ondrej Ivančo said. Under Slovakia s privatization scheme the FNM has been gradually selling stock in leading companies since August, a program which has dominated trade on the Stock Exchange. It has already sold just under half a 12.2% stake in oil company Nafta Gbely a.s. on offer, and it is also offering 35% of pharmaceuticals group Biotika a.s and 8.7% of oil refiner Slovnaft a.s. But on Friday former Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar took control of privatization with a series of Parliamentary votes which included replacing the 16 top FNM officials. Mečiar won elections five weeks ago on a platform opposing rapid, sweeping privatization but has still not formed a coalition government. However, he struck a pact with a left-wing party (ZRS) for Friday s votes which also moved authority over sales of state property to the FNM from the Privatization Ministry, which is still controlled by the outgoing centrist Government. Direct sales of state assets announced by the centrist Government of outgoing Prime Minister Jozef Moravčík since September 6 were also cancelled. But Moravčík told the state news agency TASR that he would not sign the law cancelling the sales and other government decisions on privatization passed on Friday. If Parliament approved the law again, the cabinet would ask for it to be referred to the Constitutional Court, he said. BSE officials say the FNM netted 521 million crowns ($16.8 million) from the share sales, mainly from selling Nafta. Local brokers said that they expected the FNM to begin selling the shares again, but the move to withdraw the offer was another indication of confusion over the future of privatization in Slovakia. Mečiar will stop the privatization only for a certain time, and then he will continue because there is no other way, said Branislav Milták, a broker at Tatra banka a.s. But we don t know what the policy of the (FNM) will be, he told Reuters. 12 Burza cenných papierov v Bratislave. 13 Fond národného majetku.

13 7-13 November 1994, Slovak News 13 On Friday the new members of the FNM s ruling presidium met and replaced members of its executive committee which manages the FNM on a daily basis, Gabriel Palacka, outgoing State Secretary at the Privatization Ministry, told Reuters. Despite the uncertainty, turnover on the BSE rose to 5,447 shares on Monday, up 1,038 from Friday when the FNM was also absent. The SAX index gained 0.7 points to But Slovnaft fell 30 crowns (97 cents) to close at 1,000 ($32.2) on the Bratislava Options Exchange and did not trade on the BSE. (Reuters) PRESIDENT REJECTS BILL TO REMOVE TWO GOVERNMENT MINISTERS Bratislava Slovakia s political problems deepened Monday as President Michal Kováč refused to remove two Cabinet ministers who were ousted in a Parliamentary vote on Friday. President Kováč has rejected last week s Parliamentary vote to fire the Interior and Privatization Ministers in the caretaker Government. The President s spokesman says the no-confidence vote on the two ministers was against the Constitution and the case is being sent to the constitutional court for review. Six weeks after national elections, Slovakia still does not have a Government. The party (HZDS) of Slovakia s leading politician, Vladimír Mečiar, got more than one-third of the votes. But Mr. Mečiar still has not formed a Government. Mr. Mečiar, an architect of Slovakia s independence in 1993, has been Prime Minister twice before. He is engaged in a bitter feud with President Kováč and wants to replace him. When the new Parliament met last Thursday for a session that dragged on until early Friday, the forceful Mr. Mečiar formed ad hoc alliances with two smaller parties and forced through several measures, including the votes of no confidence in the two ministers. Mr. Mečiar opposes the privatization program of the previous now caretaker Government of Jozef Moravčík. Some privatization deals previously approved were canceled by the new Parliament. On Sunday, Mr. Moravčík implored Mr. Mečiar to quickly form a Government and stop playing childish games with the Slovak Constitution. He criticized the sacking of the two ministers, saying it clashes with constitutional principles. He said the future of the Slovak state is at stake. Mr. Mečiar has been trying to pull together a coalition that would include some of Slovakia s other major parties. Thus far, only small parties of right wing nationalists (SNS) and left wing former communists (ZRS) have indicated a willingness to join. Mr. Moravčík s Government, in power for more than six months, speeded up the privatization Mr. Mečiar had stopped back in February.

14 7-13 November 1994, Slovak News 14 Friday s Parliamentary action also gave Mr. Mečiar considerable power over state broadcasting. (VOA) TURNING BACK THE CLOCK IN SLOVAKIA Editorial, The New York Times, 10 Nov Although he outpolled his rivals in Slovakia s elections last month, Vladimír Mečiar remains unable to stitch together a government and get himself formally named prime minister. But last week the- Moscow-trained, 14 rabble-rousing Mr. Mečiar proved once again that while he cannot rule, he can still wreck. Just moments after the previous government resigned, he joined with parties from the far right and far left to railroad 13 measures through all-night session of Parliament that sent Slovakia reeling back to the bad old days. Mr. Mečiar was never able to command more than 83 votes in the 150-member Parliament during the session. But with opposition caught off guard and with only a simple majority required for legislation, he was able to do enormous damage to Slovakia s painful efforts to move towards a private economy and enlarge individual freedoms. In effect, he turned back the clock. The bills he pushed through canceled all the privatization agreements made by the previous government in the past two months. He then won the right to remove the top command of the National Property Fund, which is in charge of selling state assets. The last time Mr. Mečiar ran the fund, he handed cronies 52 major industries at bargain- basement prices in just one month. For good measure, he managed to install one such crony, Ivan Lexa, as head of the Slovak Information Service - the successor to the old secret police. He also split control of state radio and television between his party and the far right. A few hours after the vote, his appointees shut down the state radio s popular news show. Mr. Mečiar, who has twice been Prime Minister since Slovakia s independence, remains a hard-line communist and proud of it. 15 He won 35% of the vote in October by railing against Hungarian minority, the Czechs and the evils of privatization. Even so, he has been unable to attract the 20 additional votes he needs to form a government. But when opposition members protested his tactics, he told them bluntly: We are transferring the results of the election to real life. Get used to it. 14 Vladimír Mečiar was not Moscow-trained in the usual sense. He graduated in law from Comenius University, Bratislava. He attended workshops in the Soviet Union in the 1960s for officers of the governmentsponsored Socialist Youth League in the former Czechoslovakia. M.V. 15 It became a cliché to refer to Mečiar as a (former) communist in the non-slovak media. He was a Communist Party member briefly before he was expelled in 1970 for opposing the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia. Regardless of how his political conduct may be described, he was not known to refer to himself or to his opinions as communist. M.V.

15 7-13 November 1994, Slovak News 15 Under Prime Minister Moravčík, now the caretaker, Slovaks were getting used to something better. Mr. Moravčík s government, which has run the country since March, ratcheted down the Hungarian quarrel and began a fruitful collaboration with the IMF. Inflation slowed, trade increased and foreign investors were trickling back. Despite the drubbing, opposition legislators refused to ally themselves with Mr. Mečiar, even though he offered them some top government jobs. But clearly they could use help. For all his highhandedness, Mr. Mečiar still professes interest in the Partnership for Peace and in joining Western Europe. Washington and Brussels would do well to drive home the message that the club is closed to those who still trample democracy.