GUGSP News Archive: Week 3/1998

GUGSP
© 1997, 98
Miro Sedivy

GUGSP News Archive: 12 Jan - 18 Jan 1998
A summary of the most important events in the Slovak politics in the 3rd week of the year 1998.

WEEK 2 -- MAIN LIST -- WEEK 4

MONDAY 12 Jan 1998

Today was the last day for subscribing candidates to the first round of the Presidential Elections in the Slovak Parliament. Until the deadline at 4pm, there were 3 official candidates: Stefan Markus (61 years) proposed by the Slovak Democratic Coalition, Juraj Hrasko (66 years) proposed by the Party of the Democratic Left, and Augustin Kurek (36 years) proposed by the independent deputies. Augustin Kurek is the chief of the tradesmen organization of the Bratislava public bus drivers. All three candidates have practically no chance to be elected, as the coalition with 81 deputies won't vote for any of them. No coalition party proposed its own candidate, so the first round held on 23rd January is now lost.

According to the Slovak Constitution, the President can be elected by 3/5 of the Parliament (90 deputies). If a President is not elected in the first round, it can be repeated in two weeks. Every next election can be repeated after 30 days since the previous repeated round. If the President is not elected, most of President's power comes into hands of the Prime Minister and the government, including the army leadership, control of embassies, and many others. But not signing the new laws (no new law after 2nd March will be valuable without President's signature), or recalling and naming governments (after Parliamentarian Elections in September, the government cannot resign...). For more reference, see the Constitution, articles 102 through 105.

The Kosice (second Slovakia town) mayor Rudolf Schuster may be designed as the official presidential candidate of the Party of the Democratic Left in the second or the third round. There are still dialogues, but according to Rudolf Schuster, it's Vladimir Meciar who decides (with his 61 deputies), who will or won't be the new President. And as his relation to Rudolf Schuster is not very good, Rudolf Schuster seems not to want to take the candidature in these Elections.

The coalition parties won't have their own candidate, and won't support any of the current candidates in the first round. They still did not agree whether they'll put a common candidate in the second round.

The Slovak National Party refused to accept the decision of the Constitutional Court in the issue of the deputy mandate conflict between Emil Spisak and Ladislav Hruska (see news 09 Jan). They won't support Spisak's return to the Parliament, as he does not represent their interests any more.

Vladimir Meciar said, that Slovakia could be the fifth country in the world in the education quality...

TUESDAY 13 Jan 1998

Last seven weeks of the current President's function have been announced by the counter. The Presidential Elections will be held not on 23rd, but on 29th January instead, as the chairman of the National Council decided today. The main cause was the meeting of eleven Central-European Presidents in Slovakia town Levoca on 23-24 January. There are three official candidates, but who have almost no chance to be elected, as the coalition refuses to support any of them. The coalition has 81 votes, the rest has 69, and 90 deputies are needed for election of the new President. But, even if the coalition does not support any of these three candidates, two best will continue in the second scrutiny held on 6th February.

If the Parliament does not elect a new President, after the 2nd March, most of President's functions will move into hands of the Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar. I already cited here several points, and another one is that the Prime Minister will be able to change the Chairman of the Constitutional Court. Now, the Constitutional Court is supposed the "sick element on the political scene", and that's the institution proclaiming the constitutional legality of the Elections...

The coalition still wants to accept a new Election Law in February, which would request five per cent to all parties in a coalition to enter to the Parliament. Also, they want the "independent courts" to control the Elections, not the political parties. However, it's not possible to accomplish this issue before February Parliamentarian session, because the Interior Ministry still does not work on it, and it will be necessary to consult the law proposal with many institutions. According to the Christian-Democratic Movement leader Jan Carnogursky, "even if such proposal would appear now, it couldn't be complete and without many mistakes".

The Slovak Democratic Coalition wants to initiate a Parliamentarian session on the deputy candidate Emil Spisak (09 Jan) entrance to the Parliament. The HZDS law expert and deputy Jan Cuper said: "Again, the Slovak Democratic Coalition is traumatizing the society..." and he'll vote in this issue as he'll sleep well before the session.

The Kosice (second Slovakia town) mayor Rudolf Schuster doesn't think of his presidential candidature, as HZDS does not want him at all (61 HZDS deputies can stop any presidential candidate). He was said to create a new political party. According to his statements, he knows there's some new political party in Kosice, but he's sure he doesn't have to do anything with it.

WEDNESDAY 14 Jan 1998

The Slovak President Michal Kovac named a new Finance Minister Miroslav Maxon, who replaced Sergej Kozlik, currently just the vice-prime minister. M. Maxon, a deputy of the coalition New Agrarian Party, wants to improve Ministry functions. Michal Kovac firstly did not understand why Vladimir Meciar wants to change his Finance Minister, just a few month before the Parliamentarian Elections, even if the Finance Ministry works quite fine, without major problems.

The Hungarian Ambassador to Slovakia has been asked to arrange a meeting of the Hungarian Foreign Minister Laszlo Nagy with his Slovak partner Zdenka Kramplova in Budapest on 22nd January.

The Presidential Election is nearing. Augustin Kurek, chairman of the Bratislava public buses drivers association, proposed by an independent deputy would like to become the first Slovakia worker President. Juraj Hrasko, official candidate of the Party of the Democratic Left, does not consider the current presidential elections as too serious, mainly from the point of view of non-participating coalition. The Magyar Coalition will announce the name of the one supported candidate (out of three) next week.

The Slovak Democratic Coalition requested an extra parliamentarian session which should be held next week. The only issue of this session would be the correction of two Parliament's violations of the law, when there are two deputies in the Parliament, on the places of their colleagues. The first one is Jan Belan, on the place of the excluded deputy Frantisek Gaulieder. The second one is Ladislav Hruska, on the place of Emil Spisak, who had to replace the deceased deputy B. Kunc.

There was a deputy investigation in the Slovak (state) Television. Since 2nd February, a "Studio Beta" will broadcast Good Morning programs on STV for seven years. According to the Party of the Democratic Left deputy L. Ftacnik, the general director of STV Igor Kubis declared, that the Slovak Television is really an opposition medium, as it gives slightly more space for the opposition than to the coalition. Regarding the current analyses, there are 60% of the time for the government, 20% for the coalition and 20% for the opposition, which gives 80 : 20 for coalition and opposition. According to the TV council order, each of these three elements should get one third of the related time.

THURSDAY 15 Jan 1998

According to Vladimir Meciar, the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia won't propose its own candidate in the second round of the Presidential Elections. Meciar thinks only the third or fourth round will decide about the new head of state. He said the government is already prepared to take the President's functions after 2nd March.

According to the Justice Minister Katarina Tothova, two signatures, those of the Prime Minister and the President, on the law are enough. This will be one of the biggest problems after 2nd March, when Michal Kovac ends his Presidential function, and there's no new President, even if most functions move to the government, the right to sign the laws does not. Therefore, all laws accepted by the Parliament after this date, and not signed by the President, are not legal.

Dusan Macuska, the HZDS deputy, said, that two causes the parliament will decide in soon, that of the former HZDS deputy Frantisek Gaulieder and that of the deputy Emil Spisak are very different, and he agrees the Constitutional Court is right when attributing deputy's mandate to Emil Spisak instead of Ladislav Hruska, so he will vote for Spisak's entrance to the Parliament. The vice-leader of the Slovak National Party (both deputies Hruska and Spisak were its candidates) Anna Malikova sees both causes in the same light, so if Hruska is excluded from the Parliament, so HZDS deputy Jan Belan should leave it to, and Frantisek Gaulieder, excluded against his will, should come back. Just another click: Dusan Macuska said, that the coalition always respected all the decisions of the Constitutional Court...

Former HZDS deputy Miroslav Maxon, named for the Finance Minister yesterday, will be replaced by his colleague Blazena Paulovicova on his deputy chair.

According to the opposition Democratic Union deputy Ludovit Cernak, the Slovakia's biggest financial institution Slovenska Sporitelna (Slovak Saving-bank) cannot be privatized. Cernak strongly criticized the recent moving of the bank's headquarters to Banska Bystrica, which cost over 500 million SKK (over 15 million USD), and these money would greatly help to many small entrepreneurs in running their business.

The US embassy will request 45 USD for a non-immigration visa since the 1st February. There were several modifications in the payment system of the embassy.

As one of the first countries, Slovakia ratified the international Convention of the Human Rights and Biomedicine in Strasbourg.

FRIDAY 16 Jan 1998

The Parliamentary Elections will be held on 25th and 26th September 1998. According to the Press Agency of the Slovak Republic, there are 82 registered political subjects, of which 61 political parties and 21 political movements. The Prime Minister V. Meciar would prefer one and only vote district instead of current eight, because this would allow every one voter to select his preferred candidate (who is the most preferred in HZDS?).

The Communal Elections (deputies of municipal headquarters and the mayors) will be held on 13th and 14th November 1998.

Vladimir Meciar wants to have a new President before the current one will leave on 2nd March, though the government is already prepared to take most President's functions. The coalition still did not propose any presidential candidate, and won't do so even in the second round. V. Meciar does not suppose serious the current presidential discussions, as the opposition already speaks of a candidate for the next round.

The NATO General Secretary Javier Solana will probably come to Slovakia on 5th March to let us know that NATO's door is still open for Slovakiam, and to see how does the Slovak government imagine the future cooperation with NATO.

The 37th Parliamentary session on the two missing deputies (Frantisek Gaulieder and Emil Spisak {08 Jan}) issue will be held on 20th January. This session has been initiated by the opposition deputies. If the Gaulieder's issue is clear since his exclusion in December 1996 - he won't come back, Emil Spisak could be allowed to enter to the Parliament as HZDS will probably agree.

The national air corporation Slovak Airlines will begin its flights since the 29th March 1998 on the lines Bratislava - Moscow and Bratislava - Kosice (second Slovakia city - 400 km on the East). The Slovak Airlines will still use the old Russian planes TU-154, which are no more used even in Russia. Later, the corporation will expand its lines to other European cities, and several Slovakia airports.