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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, January 1998 Sunday, 25 January Slovak Communists Label Havel Modern Dictator 3 Saturday, 24 January Presidents Back Slovaks but Say Watching Elections 3 Presidents Say Central Europe Must Put People First 4 Presidents of Europe s Ex-communist Bloc Agreed to Continue Reforms 6 Government Party Proposes Mečiar for Presidency 7 Havel Receives Slovak Opposition Leaders 7 Negotiations to Send a Slovak to Mir on a Week-long Mission 8 Friday, 23 January Hungarian President Says Slovak Minority Problem Can Be Solved 8 A Summit of Former Communist Bloc Leaders Opened 9 President Kováč Confident in Slovakia s Drive for Early EU Membership 9 Hungarian President: Europe Would Be Unhappy at Slovaks EU Absence 10 Czech President Thanks Slovak President for Five-year Cooperation 10 Havel Meets Delegation of Slovak Jews at Levoča Summit 11 General Tests to Start on Mochovce Nuclear Reactor 11 Thursday, 22 January Slovakia, Hungary Fail to Implement Friendship Treaty 11 Premier Mečiar s Party Member Reports a Plot to Assassinate Premier 12 U.S. Ambassador Johnson Praises Slovakia s Human Potential 13 Markíza TV Reports on Expected Government Changes 13 National Bank Sees No Currency Crisis 13 HZDS MP Foresees Orderly Presidential Elections 14 Plan to Amend Law on Radio and TV Not Passed 14 Mečiar Distancing Himself from Nafta Gbely Privatization 14

2 19-25 January 1998, Slovak News 2 Slovakia Has 49.6 Billion Crowns Trade Deficit for Slovak BP, Mobil to Build Gasoline Station Network 15 Wednesday, 21 January Slovakia, Hungary to Renounce Gabčíkovo Danube Dam Damages 15 Mečiar Speaks on His Future Prospects 16 Finance Minister Sees No Bankruptcy of Investment and Development Bank 16 Premier s Spokesman on Assassination Plot and Other Matters 17 Slovak Foreign Minister Speaks to Hungarian Media 17 Slovak Ambassador to Hungary Objects to Budapest Newspaper Article 17 Vice-Premier Denies Rumors of Resignation 18 Labor Ministry Plans for Bilateral Employment Treaties 18 Members of Parliament Cases Unresolved despite Disapproval by EU 18 Central European Leaders to Meet in Slovak Mountains 19 Tuesday, 20 January OECD Tax Committee Gives Passing Grade to Slovakia 20 Crime Rate in Slovakia Declines in Bratislava Government Describes Premier Mečiar Assassination Plot 21 School Reports to Remain in Slovak 21 Two New Members of Parliament Not Passed 21 German Court Not to Summon Slovak President s Son 21 President s Son s Passport Reissued 22 Slovak Parliament Refuses to Discuss Suspended MP Cases 22 Hungarian Culture Minister Blames Slovakia for Poor Relations 22 Government Party Would Privatize East Slovak Ironworks, Nafta Gbely 23 Minister of Labor Says Her UN Job in Hands of President 23 IRB Bank Cards Back in Business 23 Moody s May Cut Slovakia Forex Ceiling for Bonds 23 Monday, 19 January Slovak National Party Against MP Replacement 24 Cabinet Changes Considered 24 Police: Organized Crime Could Threaten Security 24 Slovak President Michal Kováč to Visit United States 25 Mochovce Nuclear Plant Test OK 25

3 19-25 January 1998, Slovak News 3 Sunday, 25 January 1998 SLOVAK COMMUNISTS LABEL HAVEL MODERN DICTATOR Košice, East Slovakia The Slovak Communist Party (KSS) has sharply protested against the participation of Czech President Václav Havel in the summit of 11 Central European presidents in Levoča, east Slovakia, on January. In a statement issued today, the KSS labels Havel a liar and a modern dictator. The non-parliamentary KSS welcomed the meeting of presidents in Levoča as an event strengthening Slovakia s international authority, says the statement signed by KSS chairman Ivan Hopta. However, the party calls on all Slovak citizens to organize public rallies in protest against Havel s presence at the summit, the statement says. Václav Havel has no moral right to enter Slovakia, as he as former Czechoslovak president caused immense economic damages to our country and the subsequent unemployment growth by liquidating the [local] arms industry, the KSS says. Saturday, 24 January 1998 PRESIDENTS BACK SLOVAKS BUT SAY WATCHING ELECTIONS Levoča, Slovakia The presidents of 10 Central European countries said Slovakia should not be excluded from European Union expansion but cautioned they would closely monitor this year s presidential and parliamentary elections. Slovakia has earned a reputation as a laggard in democratic reforms in post-communist Europe and was left out of the first wave of countries invited to begin talks on joining the EU and NATO. Both organizations singled out shortcomings in the country s democratic system. This week, Slovakia s parliament will vote directly on a new president but with no political grouping strong enough to produce the required three-fifths majority there is little likelihood of a victor emerging. The populist-nationalist government of Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar has not even fielded a candidate and on Saturday the incumbent, Michal Kováč, admitted that Slovakia faced a period without a president when his term expires on 2 March and then the prospect of a constitutional crisis. It is very likely that for some time the country will function without a president. Under the constitution some presidential powers will be assumed by the government but for the time being the constitution does not specify what to do with other powers, said Kováč.

4 19-25 January 1998, Slovak News 4 Kováč, who is not running in the vote, was speaking at the end of a two-day summit of Central European presidents in the eastern Slovak town of Levoča. The presidents of Germany, Italy, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Slovenia were present. Many pledged their support to Slovakia in its bid to join the EU but some voiced concern about the upcoming presidential elections. Quite clearly, we are going to give our close attention to this development Slovakia s road towards European institutions has our full support. Of course, at the same time, it is our expectation that the economic and political ideas of Slovakia are identical with those which we have set out, said Austrian President Tomas Klestil. The president of neighboring Poland, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, added that the way Slovakia handled the problem and its parliamentary elections in September would be taken as a powerful signal by the outside world. Presidential and parliamentary elections will show us what is the direction, what is the policy of Slovakia, he said. Kováč has described 1998 as a crucial year for Slovakia and in his New Year s address to the nation he issued a thinly veiled warning to the government and its supporters not to pull stunts which could overheat an already tense situation. Last week, the government said it had received a death threat against Mečiar. The opposition said Mečiar, who according to opinion polls is likely to lose the parliamentary elections, had probably organized the alleged death threat himself to discredit his rivals and gain sympathy from the people. (Reuters) PRESIDENTS SAY CENTRAL EUROPE MUST PUT PEOPLE FIRST Levoča, Slovakia Eleven presidents wound up a summit on Saturday with a call for post-communist Europe to put its people at the heart of plans to integrate with the West. The two-day meeting brought together the heads of state of European Union members Austria, Germany and Italy along with Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine who all want to join. We have to concoct policy which is close to the citizens, Austrian President Thomas Klestil told a concluding news conference in the eastern Slovak town of Levoča, adding the 11 countries represented more than 300 million people. Romanian President Emil Constantinescu said integration with the West was a recognition of shared values but added: We have not yet demonstrated to citizens our ability to know what to do with the newly acquired freedoms.

5 19-25 January 1998, Slovak News 5 The two days of talks were devoted to ways to strengthen civil society the networks of non-state organizations such as charities, environmental groups and even sports clubs which did not exist during decades of Communist Party rule. Several leaders, notably Czech President Václav Havel, have often written and spoken of the need to develop civil society as a way to make the new-found democracy in former Soviet bloc countries more inclusive. Civil society is the foundation of the success of all our endeavors Civil society is the best guarantee for the rule of law, for human rights, Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski told the news conference. But Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma said it would be harder to create a strong civil society in the former Soviet republic because it had been longer under Soviet rule. Many in the region say civil society has become more relevant as Central and Eastern European states seek to join NATO and the EU. There is still deep unease in some countries about swapping enforced membership of Soviet-bloc bodies for Western groups. Several leaders have expressed concern that no country should be isolated in the integration process. The presidents share the same philosophy, which is the philosophy of a united Europe, Bulgaria s Petar Stoyanov said. The Czechs, Poles and Hungarians have been invited to join NATO. Those three, plus Slovenia are to negotiate EU membership. The fifth annual meeting of the presidents, most of whom have little power, was taken as an important sign of support for troubled Slovakia s aspirations to join Western bodies. Slovakia was once seen as a frontrunner to join both the EU and NATO but was the only applicant excluded from the first wave of expansion for failure to meet democratic standards. The government of Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar, an avowed foe of Kováč, has said its critics apply different criteria to Slovakia from those used for other states. This has demonstrated that Slovakia is not shunned, not ignored that there is no international conspiracy against Slovakia, Slovak President Michal Kováč said. Kováč s term in office expires on ľ March and all sides of the political spectrum believe a deeply divided parliament will not be able to agree on a new president for months. Presidential and parliamentary elections will show us what is the direction, what is the policy of Slovakia, Kwaśniewski said. After two days of talks, the presidents acknowledged civil society was hard to define but several had a go.

6 19-25 January 1998, Slovak News 6 I think I am not far from the truth when I say civil society is a society having a human being at its center, said Italy s Oscar Luigio Scalfaro. (Reuters) PRESIDENTS OF EUROPE S EX-COMMUNIST BLOC AGREED TO CONTINUE REFORMS Levoča, Slovakia Presidents of Europe s ex-communist bloc agreed Saturday to continue reforms needed to join western institutions such as the EU and NATO and admitted some of them have a long way to go. Ending a two-day summit gathering eight central European presidents with three EU counterparts, they reaffirmed their commitment to democracy and developing free economies, 8 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain. I recall a cartoon showing a man with a ball and chain, and on that ball was the word freedom, said Romanian President Emil Constantinescu. We are still working out what to do with our new-found freedom. He was speaking at a joint press conference by the 11 leaders, who had met since Friday in the small picturesque town of Levoča in eastern Slovakia, in the shadows of the snowcapped High Tatra mountains. The summit brought together eight leaders of ex-communist bloc countries from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine and Slovenia and the presidents of EU members Germany, Austria and Italy. The meeting was dominated specifically by participants hopes for EU membership. Four of those present the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovenia are set to open talks with Brussels in April. The issue has posed a tricky problem for Slovak host President Michal Kováč. Bratislava is the only applicant which failed to meet the political benchmark set by the EU. In particular an EU report criticized premier Vladimír Mečiar s disregard of democratic rules. On Saturday his fellow presidents closed ranks. It is not for us to meddle in the internal politics of a country, said Austria s Thomas Klestil, whose country takes over the EU presidency in July. But he said: We cannot imagine Europe without Slovakia. It is one of the core countries of Europe. Other participants reaffirmed their desire to join the EU, if not immediately. The Levoča summit shows that we share the same philosophy of a united Europe, said Bulgaria s Petar Stoyanov. Ukrainian leader Leonid Kuchma, invited to the annual meeting of central European leaders for the first time, announced his country s intention to apply for EU membership.

7 19-25 January 1998, Slovak News 7 Ukraine s overall dream is integration into European structures, but the main aim is first to become a member of the European Union, he told the press conference. The presence of Austria s Klestil, Italy s Oscar Luigi Scalfaro and Germany s Roman Herzog is seen here as a sign of regional solidarity with the EU aspirants. The Levoča meeting is the fifth such annual summit. The meeting was held in the Czech Republic in 1994, Hungary in 1995, Poland in 1996 and Slovenia last year. When not summiteering, the assembled heads of state enjoyed the delights of this small mediaeval town, with highlights including the world s tallest wooden Gothic altar in the local St James church. (AFP) GOVERNMENT PARTY PROPOSES MEČIAR FOR PRESIDENCY Bratislava The minor government Slovak National Party (SNS) has proposed Premier Vladimír Mečiar, head of the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), as a candidate for Slovak presidency at coalition talks, Deputy Premier and HZDS deputy chairman Sergej Kozlík told reporters today. Premier Mečiar is the first strong presidential candidate to appear, Kozlík said after the meeting of the HZDS national board in Žilina, central Slovakia. He said the affair had to be subjected to further talks. It is premature to speak about it, as it is necessary to secure the support of 90 deputies for a concrete candidate, Kozlík added. The tenure of incumbent President Michal Kováč expires in early March. The presidential election is scheduled for 29 January, but it is widely expected that no candidate will gain the necessary support of the three fifths of the 150-member parliament. HAVEL RECEIVES SLOVAK OPPOSITION LEADERS Stará Lesná, High Tatras It is in the Czech Republic and Slovakia s interest to improve bilateral relations so that they better correspond to the closeness of the two nations which had shared a common state for many years, Václav Havel said after a meeting with Slovak opposition leaders today. The meeting took place at the request of the Slovak opposition after the summit of eleven European presidents in Levoča, east Slovakia, in which Havel, the Czech president, had also participated. Havel did not rule out journalists suggestion that his meeting with the opposition leaders could have encouraged the Slovak opposition. It is unusual for a politician to openly support various political parties or groups in a foreign country before its parliamentary elections, Havel said.

8 19-25 January 1998, Slovak News 8 NEGOTIATIONS TO SEND A SLOVAK TO MIR ON A WEEK-LONG MISSION Cape Canaveral, Fla. [ ] Negotiations also are under way to send a Slovak to Mir on a week-long mission that would generate another $12 million to $20 million, and the Russian Space Agency is considering a proposal to send two actors to Mir to film parts of a Russian movie. [ ] (Florida Today) Friday, 23 January 1998 HUNGARIAN PRESIDENT SAYS SLOVAK MINORITY PROBLEM CAN BE SOLVED Levoča, Slovakia Hungarian President Arpád Göncz said on Friday he believed Slovakia and Hungary could solve their long-standing dispute over Slovakia s half-millionstrong ethnic Hungarian minority. We can solve it together Of course it is possible, Göncz told reporters in the town of Levoča. The Hungarian president is in Slovakia with the presidents of 10 other Central European countries for a summit to discuss ways of rebuilding the intermediary institutions standing between government and the individual civil society destroyed by decades of communist rule. Göncz did not say whether he would raise the matter of the ethnic-hungarian minority with his Slovak counterpart Michal Kováč, who is hosting the summit. On Thursday, Slovak Foreign Minister Zdenka Kramplová and her Hungarian counterpart László Kovács held talks in Budapest ending months of diplomatic silence since a scheduled meeting last year was canceled because of a feud. This time the two sides signed a protocol for cooperation between the two ministries but no agreement was reached on the minorities dispute. Crucially, they failed to agree on who should represent Slovakia s Hungarian minority on a joint committee the two countries are supposed to establish under the terms of a friendship treaty signed two years ago. Hungary had hoped that the meeting would produce some progress in implementing provisions of the basic treaty. Kramplová criticized Hungary s own record on the treatment of the smaller Slovak ethnic minority living in Hungary. Kovács and Kramplová had been due to meet last September but that meeting was postponed in the midst of a row over a proposal by Slovak Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar for voluntary repatriation of the two countries ethnic minorities. Hungary officially ignored the proposal while the Hungarian press said it smacked of racism.

9 19-25 January 1998, Slovak News 9 The issue of ethnic minorities is a sensitive one in the region, but especially for Hungary which was shorn of much of its territory after World War I, leaving some half a million ethnic Hungarians living in what is now Slovakia. (Reuters) A SUMMIT OF FORMER COMMUNIST BLOC LEADERS OPENED Levoča, Slovakia A summit of former communist bloc leaders opened here Friday, with their hopes for joining the European Union set to top the agenda. Eight leaders from central and eastern Europe met to discuss their prospects with three EU member counterparts, the presidents of Germany, Italy and Austria. In the shadow of the snow-peaked High Tatras mountains, the heads of state gathered to discuss Civil Society the Hope for a United Europe, the theme chosen by host President Michal Kováč. Leaders of the 15-member European Union agreed in Luxembourg in December to begin membership talks this year with six countries, including four represented in Levoča: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia. The meeting in Levoča will be the first opportunity of evaluating the (Luxembourg) decision on European Union expansion, said Austrian President Thomas Klestil, whose country takes over the EU presidency in July. (AFP) PRESIDENT KOVÁČ CONFIDENT IN SLOVAKIA S DRIVE FOR EARLY EU MEMBERSHIP Levoča, Slovakia Slovak President Michal Kováč expressed confidence in his country s drive for early EU membership despite Brussels doubts about democracy here, as a summit of EU hopefuls began Friday. In particular Kováč welcomed the fact that the assembled heads of state had agreed to attend the summit of eight former communist state leaders and three EU presidents in the eastern Slovakian town of Levoča. People should realize that the presidents, through their participation, clearly declare that Slovakia belongs in Europe, he told the Slovak news agency in the small town of Levoča. They want Slovakia to be a part of the EU and European structures, he added. Slovakia, born from the division of Czechoslovakia in 1993, is the sole EU hopeful which failed to meet the political criteria set by Brussels for applicants hoping to join in the next membership wave. Bratislava has been left out of the group of six countries set to begin membership negotiations with Brussels in March and has some work to do to persuade the EU that it can carry out the necessary reforms after that. Although economically it has performed better than many former communist states in the region, the European Commission raised particular questions about political opposition, the judiciary and minority rights. Two of the main features of the way institutions in Slovakia operate are that the government pays insufficient respect to the powers devolved by the Constitution to other

10 19-25 January 1998, Slovak News 10 bodies, said the EU assessment of Bratislava s membership application last year. As a result it said too frequently disregards the rights of the opposition. Last year s EU report, Agenda 2000, also criticized Bratislava s treatment of minorities, saying gypsies who comprise up to 10% of the country s 5.3 million population suffer particular discrimination. Roma continue to suffer considerable discrimination in daily life, and are quite frequently the target of violence from skinheads against which they receive only inadequate protection from the police, it said. Criticism of Bratislava which has also been left out of the first wave of countries to join NATO has centered in particular on premier Vladimír Mečiar, a bitter rival of the Slovak president. The populist premier, who has been gradually eroding the powers of the head of state since 1994, is accused of preventing parliament from complying with the normal rules for the operation of democracy. Mečiar is hoping to see the last of Kováč in presidential elections set for later this month. The premier will himself bid for reelection in September legislative elections. Kováč clearly hopes to use the Levoča summit, which continues until Saturday in this picturesque town in the shadows of the High Tatras mountains, to promote Bratislava s EU aspirations to the last. Already today, we can say that the summit is a step which brings European countries and nations closer together, he said. HUNGARIAN PRESIDENT: EUROPE WOULD BE UNHAPPY AT SLOVAKS EU ABSENCE Levoča, East Slovakia Civic principles have taken deep roots in Slovakia under President Michal Kováč and therefore a united Europe would be unhappy about Slovakia not being a European Union member, Hungarian President Arpád Göncz said today. He was speaking at a meeting of the heads of state of 11 Central European countries the presidents of Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia plus the presidents of Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine who are attending as guests. It is our common interest that Slovakia meet as soon as possible the norms and commitments which will make it a fully-fledged member of the Union, Göncz said. CZECH PRESIDENT THANKS SLOVAK PRESIDENT FOR FIVE-YEAR COOPERATION Levoča, East Slovakia President Václav Havel today thanked Slovak President Michal Kováč for their five-year cooperation and for staging the current fifth Central European summit which is participated in by 11 presidents. The summits, the first of which was organized by Havel in Litomyšl, east Bohemia, in 1994, have been held in spring or in summer. This one is nontraditionally taking place in January because the mandate of its host expires in March. Havel told journalists that he

11 19-25 January 1998, Slovak News 11 would like very much if relations between the Czech Republic and Slovakia were as good as relations between their presidents. HAVEL MEETS DELEGATION OF SLOVAK JEWS AT LEVOČA SUMMIT Levoča, East Slovakia Czech President Václav Havel, attending a Central European summit, received a delegation of Slovak Jews, who thanked him for the effort he and his office had made in ensuring the Czech part of the compensation for gold and jewelry taken from Jewish victims of the Holocaust, about 21 million crowns. Director of the Central Association of Jewish Religious Communities in Slovakia Jozef Weiss said the money was already being used to finance the completion of an old people s home in Bratislava. Jewish representatives stressed that it was the humanitarian aspect of the compensation, not its material aspect, which had been most important to them. Holocaust survivors had regained faith that justice existed. Whereas before the war Slovakia had 140,000 Jews, it now had only 3,000, most of whom were over 70, the delegation said. GENERAL TESTS TO START ON MOCHOVCE NUCLEAR REACTOR Mochovce, western Slovakia Assembly work and necessary tests were completed today on the primary and secondary circuit equipment at the Mochovce nuclear power plant in Slovakia, the Czech PR, agency representing the general supplier of technology, Škoda Praha, tells ČTK. The power plant today was officially signed over as completed and is now ready for the start of general tests on the first reactor on Saturday ahead of fuel loading. The tests and subsequent revisions will continue for almost three months. Škoda is the main supplier of technology for the first two of the total four reactors at the Mochovce plant. In carrying out these orders it has been collaborating with Siemens of Germany, Framatone of France and the Russian firms Zarubezhatomenergostroi and Atomenergostroi. If the Slovak side also decides to complete the third and fourth reactors, Škoda Praha intends to compete for this order as well. Thursday, 22 January 1997 SLOVAKIA, HUNGARY FAIL TO IMPLEMENT FRIENDSHIP TREATY Budapest Hungary and Slovakia failed Thursday to implement a friendship treaty amid differences over representing their cross-border ethnic populations, Hungarian Foreign Minister László Kovács said.

12 19-25 January 1998, Slovak News 12 We signed a document on cooperation between the two foreign ministries but a document on the implementation of the bilateral treaty could not be signed, Kovács said after talks with his Slovak counterpart Zdenka Kramplová. Hungary refused to accept Slovakia s proposed candidates to a joint committee designed to promote the rights of national minorities in each other s countries, one of ten committees whose creation the implementation document would stipulate, Kovács said. Kovács said that Hungary asked its Slovak minority to name its own delegate to the committee and we think that in the same way, the person who represents the Hungarian minority on the Slovak side should enjoy the confidence and support of the Hungarian minority there. The gap between our views about who can be considered a legitimate representative of a minority did not narrow, Kovács said. And because we could not agree on that, we agreed to put this issue aside, and to reinforce at the same time the intention of the two states governments to solve all the issues included in the treaty, Kovács said. Earlier press reports said that while Hungary wanted to delegate to the committee the head of the self-government of the 120,000-strong Slovak national minority in Hungary, Slovakia wanted to delegate a man who does not have sufficient ties with the main forces of the 600,000-strong Hungarian national minority in Slovakia. The difference in our views was not over the persons named but on the method and principles of their delegation, Kovács added. We see no other way to ensure that than a consensus of the three parliamentary parties which mathematically represent the Hungarian minority in Slovakia and which represent 10% of Slovakia s parliamentary forces, Kovács said. But Kramplová doubted that Slovakia s Hungarian minority parties represented the entire Hungarian minority, and added that Slovakia, for its part, has clearly implemented the treaty. Hungary and Slovakia signed a bilateral friendship treaty in Paris in 1995, but it was never fully implemented despite the fact that both countries parliaments ratified it in (AFP) PREMIER MEČIAR S PARTY MEMBER REPORTS A PLOT TO ASSASSINATE PREMIER Bratislava There is, on the one hand, indicative, and I do believe, also credible evidence that the criminal offence, a plot to assassinate the Slovak Premier, was in progress and on the other that it is being sought to turn it back on the Premier that it is his fabrication as part of a pre-election campaign. For Christ s sake, may it not have harmed him! said Dušan Macuška, a MP at a press conference of the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) in Bratislava on Thursday.

13 19-25 January 1998, Slovak News 13 U.S. AMBASSADOR JOHNSON PRAISES SLOVAKIA S HUMAN POTENTIAL Bratislava Slovakia is well-known for its quality human potential. I do not mean only manual workers abilities, but also the high level of Slovak intellectuals, said U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia Ralph R. Johnson at Thursday s session of the Hospodárske noviny Club. MARKÍZA TV REPORTS ON EXPECTED GOVERNMENT CHANGES Bratislava In its Thursday evening news program, the private Slovak television station Markíza brought information about the expected changes in the Slovak Government. The information was acquired from an anonymous source close to Government Office. According to Markíza TV, Agriculture Minister Peter Baco should become Slovakia s Ambassador to the Czech Republic or the Russian Federation. Economy Minister Karol Česnek is a candidate for Ambassador to Germany. The reason for the retirement of the Culture Minister Ivan Hudec are image-related shortcomings and the economic lobby should influence the Transport, Post and Telecommunications Minister post when Ján Jasovský leaves office. Health Minister Ľubomír Javorský should also go due to problems in his ministry. Minister of Labor, Social Affairs and the Family Oľga Keltošová should look forward to the post of Ambassador to the United Nations. The seventh and the last change regards Environment Minister Jozef Zlocha, whose retirement is based on health problems, Markíza says. (TASR) NATIONAL BANK SEES NO CURRENCY CRISIS Bratislava The National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) is monitoring in detail developments with the currency. This situation is closely connected with the temporarily increased activity of subjects from home and abroad. NBS is in control of the situation and its analyses do not indicate any hint of a possible currency crisis, reads an NBS statement provided to TASR on Thursday in reaction to recent information on the upcoming currency crisis in March or April 1998 that emanated from a statement by Finance Ministry State Secretary Peter Stanek. Even though I have only been in this post a few days, I can say that the Ministry of Finance has no documents providing evidence of a possible monetary crisis in March, Slovak Finance Minister Miroslav Maxon told Slovakia on Thursday in reaction to a statement from the Ministry s State Secretary Peter Stanek about such a possibility. (TASR)

14 19-25 January 1998, Slovak News 14 HZDS MP FORESEES ORDERLY PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS Bratislava In any case, we will not go the same way as the Czech Republic when electing a new president, said Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) Parliamentary Leader Ján Cuper on Thursday at the party s press conference in Bratislava. We do not intend to put any MPs in jail in order to elect a president, he added. PLAN TO AMEND LAW ON RADIO AND TV NOT PASSED Bratislava Members of the Parliamentary Committee for Culture, Science, Education and Sports failed on Thursday to vote in favor of the joint report of parliamentary committees and thus agree on whether or not to advise parliament to pass an amendment to the law on operating television and radio broadcasting. An amendment proposed by Milan Ftáčnik MP for the SDĽ (Party of the Democratic Left) seeks to straighten out the country s television and radio broadcasting by specifying the term broadcasting operator and preventing the national broadcasters Slovak Radio (SRo) and Slovak Television (STV) from transferring their broadcasting rights to other entities and define STV and SRo s ways of outsourcing. MEČIAR DISTANCING HIMSELF FROM NAFTA GBELY PRIVATIZATION Bratislava The privatization of the Nafta Gbely gas company is to a certain extent a matter from which I am distancing myself, Slovak Premier Vladimír Mečiar said on Slovak television last night. The decentralization of the company was implemented through the National Property Fund (FNM) and it is not yet known who holds its shares It is clear what company bought Nafta Gbely but the shares were sent to an anonymous address and it is not known who is the shareholder, Mečiar said, adding that it was the FNM obligation to explain the course of the privatization. Nafta Gbely was privatized in 1996, under advantageous conditions, by the Druhá obchodná company. However, according to the still unconfirmed information high-ranking HZDS representatives who are Mečiar s closest co-workers are actually owners of the company. SLOVAKIA HAS 49.6 BILLION CROWNS TRADE DEFICIT FOR 1997 Bratislava Slovakia s trade deficit at the end of last year reached 49.6 billion 1 Slovak crowns, Peter Stanek from the Slovak Finance Ministry said at the Centre of Independent Journalism today. This is a better result than was expected. The figure is almost exact and will only change by a few tens of millions of crowns. A cut in imports had a positive effect, as did a series of export support measures. Slovak exports grew by 15-16%, Stanek said. In 1996 Slovakia had an estimated billion Slovak crowns trade deficit. This was later adjusted to billion. ($1=35.45 SK crowns) 1 US$1.4 billion at the 1/1998 exchange rate.

15 19-25 January 1998, Slovak News 15 SLOVAK BP, MOBIL TO BUILD GASOLINE STATION NETWORK Bratislava The Slovak units of British Petroleum Co. said on Thursday they had begun jointly building a gasoline station network in Slovakia which would also distribute motor oils and lubricants. In line with the two companies downstream merger in other European countries, Slovak Mobil Lubricants would take over motor oils and lubricants production. BP has already built its first station in Bratislava, BP s manager for the Czech and Slovak republics Matthias Baus told a news conference. We re planning to build two or three new gas stations every year, mainly in the major Slovak towns, Baus said, adding that BP would primarily buy fuels from the Slovak refinery Slovnaft, but also from neighboring Austria. The estimates say some 600 to 700 stations would be a reasonable total for Slovakia I can only say we re not targeting a 10% market share, he added. Baus said the company was planning to invest some 150 million crowns 2 in Slovakia annually, mainly in construction of the stations, but also in some unspecified infrastructure projects. The two companies merged their downstream activities in Europe in Their joint venture has 12% of the European petrol retail market and 18% on the lubricants distribution market. (Reuters) Wednesday, 21 January 1998 SLOVAKIA, HUNGARY TO RENOUNCE GABČÍKOVO DANUBE DAM DAMAGES Budapest Hungarian and Slovak negotiators agreed to renounce damages claims over the Gabčíkovo Danube dam as they edged towards a compromise under a September ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), head of the Hungarian delegation János Nemcsok said Wednesday. Tuesday s talks brought a new breakthrough concerning both the damages, and the joint operation of the Dunakiliti reservoir and the Čunovo facilities, Nemcsok told the Népszabadság daily newspaper following an unscheduled sixth round of talks in Bratislava. During the talks, the delegations agreed that Hungary would let Slovakia continue to operate an existing dam at Čunovo on the Slovak side of the river, despite the ICJ ruling which said that Slovakia illegally built it by diverting the river into Slovak territory, Nemcsok said. In exchange, Slovakia agreed to provide enough water for Hungary in the old riverbed and to a Hungarian reservoir at Dunakiliti, which would allow for water sports and emergency shipping. The significance of this accord on the joint operation of the facilities is that in that case, neither country can prevent the other from running their own constructions, deputy head 2 US$4.23 million at the 1/1998 exchange rate.

16 19-25 January 1998, Slovak News 16 of the Hungarian delegation István Mayer said. What is more important, the water supply of Hungary s Little Schütt Island (Szigetköz) region should meet our need on the long run, Nemcsok added. Under the ICJ ruling, the two states must reach a compromise by the end of March. If we do not agree with Slovakia, the case goes back to The Hague and a new ICJ ruling would be unfavorable for Hungary. Moreover, Slovakia could sue Hungary for damages worth five billion dollars, Nemcsok said. Earlier, Hungary said that it would claim about the same amount of damages from Slovakia if the two could reach no compromise. Nemcsok said that recent talks did not involve former proposals of building a dam on the Hungarian side of the river instead of one originally planned at Nagymaros. We treat the accord as a package, and want no partial agreements, Nemcsok said. The communist governments of Hungary and Czechoslovakia, Slovakia s predecessor, agreed to jointly build a huge barrage system on the river Danube in But Hungary unilaterally quit the project in 1989 quoting irreversible damage to the environment, and Slovakia diverted the river Danube to Slovak territory to generate much-needed electric energy. The two states appealed in 1992 to the ICJ, which ruled last September that both states were responsible for their unilateral moves, should return to the original project and reach a compromise within six months. The next round of talks will take place in the western Hungarian town of Győr on Friday, and the delegations expect to meet every week or even twice a week until they can finalize an accord, to be submitted to the ICJ on 25 March, Nemcsok said. (AFP) MEČIAR SPEAKS ON HIS FUTURE PROSPECTS Bratislava There are only two alternatives for my future regarding politics. Either people trust in us and we can govern this country or we go home. If someone thinks that I will do anything else he or she is wrong. I do not want to waste my time uselessly fighting some people. Such fights could probably mean something for certain people, but not for me, said Slovak Premier Vladimír Mečiar for the Slovak Television broadcast What Next Mr. Premier on Wednesday. He thus reacted to a question regarding his future in politics. (TASR) FINANCE MINISTER SEES NO BANKRUPTCY OF INVESTMENT AND DEVELOPMENT BANK Bratislava Investment and Development Bank (IRB) is not a bank that we expect to go bankrupt. Currently, it is under the forced administration of the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS), Slovak Finance Minister Miroslav Maxon told TASR on Wednesday in

17 19-25 January 1998, Slovak News 17 Bratislava. He added that he has information that the situation regarding the IRB is developing positively. PREMIER S SPOKESMAN ON ASSASSINATION PLOT AND OTHER MATTERS Bratislava The measures for increased protection for Premier Vladimír Mečiar by the Interior Ministry s Special Section in relation to the suspicion of an assassination attempt are indicative of harsh reality, not the spreading of alarming news. Alarming is that there are extreme powers in Slovakia that would do anything to gain power and they keep attacking the premier, said the premier s spokesman Jozef Krošlák. Concerning the indictment of the Slovak Republican Party against me (that the story is a fabrication), I take it as an effort by some people to make themselves publicly visible, reads the statement provided by Krošlák on Wednesday. (TASR) SLOVAK FOREIGN MINISTER SPEAKS TO HUNGARIAN MEDIA Budapest I hope my Thursday visit to Hungary will prove an impetus for the enhancement of mutual relations, and that we will not see those relations solely in terms of ethnic minorities as in the past, Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Zdenka Kramplová told Hungarian journalists in Bratislava on Wednesday. The Hungarian agency MTI reported Kramplová as saying that she hopes to see meetings with her Hungarian counterpart László Kovács renewed in compliance with the timetable in the inter-ministerial cooperation protocol that is to be signed on Thursday. Other bilateral intergovernmental agreements regarding education and defense are also planned. Kramplová reckons that her Budapest visit will include talks about the arrangement of premiers meetings. But this initiative is considered problematic because of the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Hungary. (TASR) SLOVAK AMBASSADOR TO HUNGARY OBJECTS TO BUDAPEST NEWSPAPER ARTICLE Budapest With deep indignation I have read the article by Endre Aczél called Nem, ( No. ) published in your daily on January 19 in which he offended top politicians from a friendly neighboring country, reads the letter sent from Slovak Ambassador to Hungary Eva Mitrová to Népszabadság editor in chief Pál Eötvös on Wednesday. It was not for the first time that Mr. Aczél confused freedom of speech with demagogic intervention in the internal affairs of another country. I do not believe that he has a mandate for that. On the contrary, during several years of activities in your country, I have had the opportunity to discover that the majority of people have a friendly attitude towards Slovakia and they do not wish to violate good-neighbor relations, reads the letter. I hope that despite the attempt of the article to negatively influence the upcoming meet-

18 19-25 January 1998, Slovak News 18 ing of ministers, politicians of both countries will fulfill the expectations of the domestic and international public, and their discussions will provide further impetus for the development of our friendly relations, concludes the letter. [TASR s note: the offending article, for example, described Slovak Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar as a monster. ] (TASR) VICE-PREMIER DENIES RUMORS OF RESIGNATION Bratislava I strongly protest against another fabrication from journalist Klára Grosmannová, who, in Práca daily on 21 January, wrote that: Vice-Premier Katarína Tóthová would like to exchange her post in government for the ambassador s chair in Hungary, reads the statement provided by Slovak Vice-Premier Katarína Tóthová on Wednesday. The article is discussing two or three changes in the government before they are scheduled on 3 March of this year. I m emphasizing that I do not have and I ve never had such ambitions. Grosmannová permanently keeps spreading lies and disinformation about me and the Práca editor-in-chief refuses to correct these falsehoods. That s why it can only be solved through the courts, concludes the statement. (TASR) LABOR MINISTRY PLANS FOR BILATERAL EMPLOYMENT TREATIES Bratislava The Slovak Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and the Family is planning a number of bilateral deals regarding mutual employment of citizens and social provisions for citizens living in another country. The ministry is, for example, preparing such negotiations with its Ukrainian counterpart. Also, it plans to sign a treaty with Luxembourg on the exchange of students, reported Jana Burdová, spokeswoman of the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and Posts to TASR on Wednesday. Burdová said that within the first half of 1998 Slovakia hopes to make a deal on mutual employment with Hungary. The ministry is now discussing proposals in this field with other countries such as Turkey. (TASR) MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT CASES UNRESOLVED DESPITE DISAPPROVAL BY EU Bratislava Slovak parliament chairman Ivan Gašparovič has responded to a call from 44 opposition MPs and called another emergency session to discuss the controversial confiscation of parliamentary mandates of two MPs. The cases of František Gaulieder and Emil Spišák have now gone beyond Slovakia s borders many outsiders believe that the government-controlled Slovak parliament s refusal to return their mandates is an indication of the dire state of democracy in Slovakia. The meeting will take place on 28 January, one day before the first round of voting begins in the presidential election.

19 19-25 January 1998, Slovak News 19 CENTRAL EUROPEAN LEADERS TO MEET IN SLOVAK MOUNTAINS Bratislava Eleven presidents meet in Slovakia later this week for talks on boosting grassroots democracy as Central and Eastern Europe shrug off decades of communism and seek to integrate with the West. The presidents of Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria, Germany and Italy are meeting for the fifth time, this year in the Renaissance town of Levoča, close to Slovakia s Tatra mountains on Friday and Saturday. They will be joined by the heads of state of Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine for talks on civil society and the hope for a united Europe. The informal meeting of heads of state, most of whom have little real power, follows similar gatherings in Slovenia last year, Poland in 1996, Hungary in 1995 and the Czech Republic in Civil society, a fuzzy concept used to describe democratic institutions and organizations which form a bridge between the state and the individual, has been gaining currency in Eastern Europe as leaders seek to give citizens a stake in societies which were for decades under totalitarian control. Czech President Václav Havel, reelected to a new five-year term on Tuesday, has been a firm advocate of the idea and has even focused an anthology of speeches on it. U.S. First Lady Hillary Clinton sought to promote the civil society, which she described as the space between what the market should do and what the government should do on a visit to parts of the Commonwealth of Independent States last year. Slovenian President Milan Kučan said this week the development of civil society had helped in the transition to democracy and spelled out what he thought were the next steps. The key question is the possibility of revitalizing the civil society movements, for deregulation of separate sectors of society, like the economy, science, information sectors, he told a news conference. Political analysts say the notion of civil society is also becoming relevant as Eastern European countries prepare to surrender at least some sovereignty to NATO and the EU. It is seen as a way of promoting a supranational sense of identity so that all the citizens of these individual nation states can feel like they are members of something larger, said Jonathan Stein of the Institute of East-West Studies. It is a question of how to legitimate the power of Brussels. There is still deep unease in some countries, notably the Czech Republic, about swapping enforced membership of Soviet-bloc structures for membership of big Western bodies.

20 19-25 January 1998, Slovak News 20 Austria, Germany and Italy are European Union members, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia have been invited to negotiate joining. Others are on a slower integration path. Host Slovakia was once seen as a front-runner for EU membership but it was turned down for political failings including a long-running feud between President Michal Kováč and populist Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar. Both president and premier have insisted they want Slovakia to join the union and Kováč told Slovak radio the Levoča meeting was a sign of support. The presidents of the member countries of the (European) Union wanted to indicate unambiguously that Slovakia belongs to the EU and that Slovakia is still important, he said. Stein said many leaders wanted to develop civil society as a way to combat nationalism. The region simmers with disputes over minorities, notably the position of the 500,000 ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia. (Reuters) Tuesday, 20 January 1998 OECD TAX COMMITTEE GIVES PASSING GRADE TO SLOVAKIA Bratislava The Paris-based OECD Committee for Fiscal Affairs (CFA), during its session on 20 January, approved a statement that Slovakia fulfills the criteria in the field of taxes for OECD membership and recommended that the OECD Council positively consider Slovakia s application for OECD membership, Director of Slovak Finance Ministry s Tax and Customs Section, Eva Šimková, who participated in CFA session, said on Thursday in Bratislava. CFA, by making this positive verdict, closed the second examination part of the OECD-entry process. The closure of this important stage for Slovakia lends the possibility to become engaged in CFA activities and its working groups, which is important in the intermediary stage before an applicant country is accepted into OECD, she said. CRIME RATE IN SLOVAKIA DECLINES IN 1997 Bratislava The crime rate in Slovakia fell slightly in 1997 but the number of murders, at 140, was the highest in the country s five-year history, the official news agency TASR reported on Monday. TASR quoted a senior police official as saying crime in the former communist country, which has a population of 5.3 million, fell last year by 7% to 92,395 offenses, of which 47.2% were solved.

21 19-25 January 1998, Slovak News 21 The agency gave no comparison with murders in It said only that 65% of murder cases were solved and that in 1993, the first year of Slovakia s independence, there were 137 murders. Police were most successful at solving sex crimes. Of 173 registered rapes, 92.5% were solved. Car thefts were among the most difficult to solve with just under 20% of the 7,438 recorded cases resulting in prosecution. No figures were given for organized crime. (Reuters) BRATISLAVA GOVERNMENT DESCRIBES PREMIER MEČIAR ASSASSINATION PLOT Bratislava Slovak premier Vladimír Mečiar is the subject of an assassination plot with a one-million mark (550,000-dollar) price on his head, aides said Tuesday. Government spokesman Jozef Krošlák said a warning had been received from a Slovak embassy abroad about a plot to kill him before 25 February. The source said one million marks had been paid to people willing to carry out the act. Slovak security services were investigating the report, he added. It is not the first time that aides to the Slovak premier have reported rumors of assassination bids. In October 1992 during a visit to Germany aides said they had foiled a bid to kill Mečiar, who was premier of the Slovak half of the then Czechoslovak federation. Mečiar has on several occasions said that political enemies were intent on killing him. Last spring an explosive device was found in a Bratislava sports hall where he holds a monthly political rally. (AFP) SCHOOL REPORTS TO REMAIN IN SLOVAK Bratislava Biannual School Reports will continue to be issued in the Slovak language. Yet the Ministry of Education is meeting the demands of parents of national minority children by means of a regulation. According to the regulation, bilingual school reports will be issued when requested, with the parent obliged to pay a sum to the district or regional office, Education Minister Eva Slavkovská told TASR on Tuesday. TWO NEW MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT NOT PASSED Bratislava Slovak Parliamentary Mandate and Immunity Committee did not pass the valid resolutions regarding the entry of MPs Jan Belan and Ladislav Hruška to parliament at its session on Tuesday, Committee Chairman Anton Poliak said on Tuesday after the session. GERMAN COURT NOT TO SUMMON SLOVAK PRESIDENT S SON Munich, Germany The Munich Prosecutor s office will not summon Michal Kováč Junior (son of the Slovak President) to appear in court. An international warrant for