GUGSP
© 1997, 98
Miro Sedivy |
GUGSP News Archive: 20 Apr - 26 Apr 1998
A summary of the most important events in the Slovak politics in the 17th week of the year 1998.
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WEEK 16 --
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WEEK 18
MONDAY 20 Apr 1998
The referendum, declared by the former President Michal Kovac and canceled by the government led by Vladimir Meciar, had to be held last Sunday, April 19. Apart of three places, there was absolutely no referendum in the whole country... The questions had to be:
(1) Are you in favor of the deployment of Slovakia's membership in NATO?
(2) Are you in favor of the deployment of nuclear weapons on Slovak soil?
(3) Are you in favor of establishing military bases in Slovakia?
(4) Are you in favor of the direct elections of the President of the Republic?
On Saturday already, the SME paper organized a happening with the referendum with these four questions. About 2000 people came to the house of SME, to present their will, that they couldn't present twice in the whole-country referendum. Of course, this referendum was just an attempt to allow the people freely present their opinion. There were 99.90% of positive answers to the first question, 48.79% to the second, 68.12% to the third, and 99.85% to the fourth.
Two more serious referendums were held in two small towns in Southern Slovakia. In Sturovo, with about 10,000 voters (inhabitants older than 18 years), "only" 47.85% of them decided to present their opinion in the referendum. This means the referendum was not valid, because 50% of all voters are needed to make the referendum valid. Nevertheless, it was a signal to the rest of Slovakia, that the people should be allowed to show their opinion. The first and the fourth question were answered YES in almost all cases. The second and the third question, who have been originally proposed by the coalition deputies in the Parliament last year, has been answered differently. In Sturovo, the votes of only 222 voters missed to reach the necessary 50%, so that the referendum would be valid.
Svaty Jur, a small town just behind Bratislava, had its referendum too. Only 12.5% of all voters participated in this referendum.
The reaction of the government was awaited today, but as the two referendums were not valid, there's almost no need to react. the atmosphere in both towns was very peaceful, and only a few municipal policemen were standing near the vote rooms.
HZDS deputy Dusan Slobodnik leads the delegation of the deputies of the Slovak Parliament to Strasbourg to the session of the Parliamentarian Assembly of the European Council. The chairwoman of the Assembly Leni Fischer said, that she will continue on being interested of the situation in Slovakia and will try to get more information from the deputies of the Slovak Parliament.
In the case there's only one vote district in the whole country, Jozef Migas, the current leader of the opposition Party of the Democratic Left, would be also the electoral leader of this party. If there were 8 districts (as there are currently 8 regions), the following persons would be the district electoral leaders: Brigita Schmognerova, Robert Fico, Pavol Kanis, Peter Weiss, Lubomir Fogas, P. Magvasi and Milan Ftacnik.
According to the representatives of this party, the Friday words of the Prime Minister about the planning state bonds, issued for the financing of the highways construction, this was a statement - reason to leave all political functions.
Vladimir Meciar's Friday statement, that the state will issue special bonds: "People can buy them, and they can also use their money they were unable to pay taxes from. The state won't check where the people took their money from." was also a question for the Interior Minister Gustav Krajci, who said, that it was just a phrase for the journalists, "to see, what they would do with it..."
It's said that the government won't meet tomorrow at its regular Tuesday session. The Prime Minister would like to change the period of the governmental sessions from one week to fourteen days. He argued that the government already proposed so many laws, that if the parliament has still two sessions before the September elections, it's not necessary to meet every week.
The opposition Social Democratic Party in Slovakia (a part of the Slovak Democratic Coalition) composed the possible list of candidates for the September elections. It's interesting, that the current leader Jaroslav Volf is only on the second position, after the vice-chair of the party Jozef Krumpolec.
The Magyar Christian-Democratic Movement (MKDH) changed into the Party of the Magyar Coalition (SMK). It was the step of the strongest Hungarian-minority party, and its leader Bela Bugar awaits similar steps from the other two parties: Coexistence and Magyar Civic Party.
There were 280,000 signatures below the petition of the Slovak Democratic Coalition and Hungarian Coalition for correct parliamentarian elections and direct presidential election. There was also probably the first violent attack against the organizers of this petition activity. In Kosice, a 62-year-old man attacked a 50-year-old man standing by the petition table and caused him serious injuries on his hand. The attacker was arrested.
The experts numbered the damages caused by the Soviet army during their "sojourn" only in Slovakia after August 1968 to about 932 million SK (about 27 million USD). The reconstruction and monitoring works already cost 20 million USD, and the government will fund 38 million USD until 2005. This won't be paid from the Russian debt.
The upcoming flight of the first Slovak spaceman will cost about 510 million SKK. This will be paid from the Russian debt...
TUESDAY 21 Apr 1998
The chairman of the Confederation of the Tradesmen Ivan Saktor said, that it would be possible the representatives of this tradesmen's association will participate also in the parliamentarian elections.
The Confederation also requests the government to increase the minimal salary in Slovakia. Recently, the monthly living minimum increased to 3,000 Sk (~85 USD), to the same amount as the minimal salary. Therefore, the worse-earning employees are not motivated to work - those who earn the less, would receive the same financial support from the state without working... The tradesmen want to increase the minimal monthly wage to 3,800 Sk (~110 USD) at least.
According to Pavol Prokopovic, the leader of the Union of Tradesmen, Entrepreneurs and Peasants, the last-week's offer of the Prime Minister to issue new bonds for highways construction ("that the citizens could buy for their money, and the state won't ask them where they took them from") - this was a "slap to all serious smaller and medium entrepreneurs".
The law expert Ernest Valko, supposes the novelization of the communal electoral law quite anti-constitutional. As cited in the last-Thursday news, the new communal electoral law, the national composition of the local parliaments would depend on the most recent official census in 1991. If there are 40% of Slovaks and 60% of Hungarians in a village, there should be exactly 40% of Slovaks and 60% of Hungarians in the parliament... And according to a quite old census. "If there were any Italians in the village in 1991, and they are no more there, still, there has to be their representative in the local parliament..."
According to its first vice-chair, the Slovak National Party welcomes this new law, and "it does not matter that this census is quite old - it's a precise source..."
The discussions about the future cooperation of Hungarian political parties is still not clear. the strongest Magyar Christian-Democratic Movement (MKDH) changed into the Party of Magyar Coalition (SMK), and offered the entrance also to the Magyar Civic Party (MOS) and the Coexistence. MOS accept such form of cooperation, but not Coexistence, who would like to become dominant in the coalition. Everything should be clearer after the Parliament accepts or does not accept the new electoral law.
According the deputy (Christian-Democratic Movement) Ladislav Pittner, the former Interior Minister, his life is in danger and there are three alternatives of his physical liquidation, as reported in today's SME daily newspaper. He said it was very necessary to always control the activities of the Slovak Information Service, mainly in the Parliament by independent committees, composed also from opposition deputies.
The 150th anniversary of the first Slovak National Council, established in 1848, will be remembered by several activities of the current National Council of the Slovak Republic (parliament). This first national council was the only representative institution of the Slovak nation in the Austrian-Hungarian Kingdom.
Last year, the financial lost of the Railways of the Slovak Republic (ZSR) was about 4 billion SKK (~110 million USD). It should be better this year, also because the transport rate increased by 10% during the past few months. Yesterday, a part of the railway near Zilina had to be closed, because an anonymous phone call announced that the rails were undermined.
WEDNESDAY 22 Apr 1998
According to the opinion poll by the FOCUS agency, the Slovak Democratic Coalition would win the parliamentarian elections succeeded with the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia and the Party for Civil Understanding (see details).
There was no governmental session this week, because the Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar decided, that the government already accepted enough laws to be discussed in the Parliament before parliamentarian elections. Also the announced regular press conferences will be held only every two weeks. According to the governmental spokeswoman Dagmar Belakova, "this week, we already cannot make any press conference, but hopefully next week."
Jan Hrubala (Democratic Party) accused the Prime Minister of "inciting" the citizens not to fulfill their tax-paying duty. The Procurator has to inform Jan Hrubala within one month about its steps.
Also the representatives of the Party of the Democratic Left and of the Hungarian Christian-Democratic Movement.
The representatives of the Hungarian Coalition finally agreed on their future cooperation. The Hungarian Christian-Democratic Coalition will change into the Party of the Hungarian Coalition. A deputy for the Coexistence will be proposed for the place of the leader of this new party.
The vice-chair of the Slovak National Party Anna Malikova, the pre-electoral campaign should be in all mass media equally, not only in the Slovak TV and Slovak Radio as proposed in the new electoral law. In the current proposal, the campaign in private media is prohibited, but there's no precise definition of the "pre-electoral campaign".
The deputy for the Party of the Democratic Left Viliam Sopko, as the member of the special parliamentarian committee supervising the Slovak Information Service, disposes some materials proving the connections between the representatives of this country and the criminals, but does not know exactly, because he does not have the right to check into details. He's afraid the Party of the Democratic Left is being watched by the Slovak Information Service.
The state secretary for the Foreign Ministry Jozef Sestak met his Italian partner to discuss about Italy's support for Slovakia in its integration into the European Union.
Pierro Fascino (sorry if misspelled) then met the Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar, who told him, that the parliamentarian elections in Slovakia will be democratic and free.
The international environmental organization Greenpeace will organize a protest march from Mochovce to Bratislava this weekend. In Mochovce, there's the second Slovakia nuclear power plant, currently being finished. It's still one of those old Soviet systems, almost the same as in Chernobyl (on Sunday, it's the 12th anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe), and largely refused by the environmentalists. Over 120,000 people died consequently to this catastrophe.
The Slovak National Ice-Hockey League finished yesterday by the last final match between Slovan Bratislava and HC Kosice. Slovan won 3-2 and became for the first time the Champion of Slovakia.
THURSDAY 23 Apr 1998
Nine Slovak bishops sent an open letter to the Prime Minister and to the deputies in the Slovak parliament. They criticized the current situation of the Slovak Republic, that "the society is polarized because of political opinion." The bishops are not afraid of the different points of view to the problems, which is certainly a democratic process. The social uncertainty, connections between the state power and criminals, isolation of the Slovak Republic in Europe. On the other side, the bishops do not want to see everything in black, but want to improve the relations between the people, fully support free and democratic elections, objective information of the citizens in media.
Mikulas Dzurinda (leader of the Slovak Democratic Coalition) welcomed this letter, and agreed with the existence of cited problems. As a deputy in the Parliament, he promised to respect their requests and mentioned, that the petition of the Slovak Democratic Coalition for correct elections already collected 300,000 signatures.
Vitazoslav Moric (deputy for the Slovak National Party) recommended to the bishops better not to enter into the politics.
Still to the last-week's statements of the Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar in the issue of the new bonds, which would help with financing of the construction of new highways in Slovakia. Vladimir Meciar said, that the citizens will be allowed to pay these bonds also from their money that they did not pay the tax from. There was already quite a lot criticism, because PM's idea would support the "black money", legalization of illegal financial sources.
The vice-chair of the Parliament Rudolf Filkus, who already moved several times between the governmental coalition and opposition, was asked for his opinion on PM's statements. According to his answer to Radio Twist, Rudolf Filkus doubts, whether Vladimir Meciar told it consciously. However, he was still not sure about the exact meaning of this statement.
The vice-chair of the Slovak government Sergej Kozlik refused to comment any statements of anyone, nor his superior.
Peter Mihok, the chairman of the Slovak Trade and Industrial Chamber, supposed it a bad step, because the state itself must fight against such financial criminality to keep its economic situation.
According to today's meeting of the governmental council for Slovakia's into the European Union, the EU reserved 44 million ECU to the Slovak republic for this year. For the years 1995-99, Slovakia got 220 million ECU, but only 91 million were already spent until now.
According to the leader of the Christian-Democratic Movement Jan Carnogursky, Slovakia should improve its military industry, so that it could cooperate with the companies in democratic countries. He said it was necessary to create a powerful army, and also to sell the weapons abroad, but only to countries, with guarantees, that the weapons wouldn't be misused against its own habitants or for terrorism...
The fifth general meeting of the Party of the Democratic Left will be held on Saturday. According to its vice-chair, the party registered about 5% new members during past months.
The Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar and his Austrian partner Viktor Klima will meet on Monday 27th April in Vienna. They will also discuss about the new nuclear power plant in Mochovce, Slovakia. The first nuclear block should be also installed on Monday, which is widely refused by the environmentalists in Austria.
FRIDAY 24 Apr 1998
The referendum in a central-Slovakian town Rimavska Sobota is held today. The citizens are voting for or against the construction of a prison in this town.
The Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) had a meeting in Kosice (the second Slovakia town in the Eastern part) today. Although the organizers promised a large screen on a frequent street with the direct transmission from the meeting in the sport hall, there was no such screen, and also the interest of the citizens in the meeting was rather low. About two thousand older people welcomed the Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar, who told them, that Kosice was the "cradle of HZDS." He promised that he would leave the politics in the case HZDS looses the elections, but "we have to win, we do not have any other alternative."
HZDS will have its general session during this weekend in Kosice, and they will also elect the leader (who else than V.M.) and vice-chairs (two remain, two will be changed).
According to the SITA agency, the Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar said, that "there are no such mistakes in Slovakia, for which we would have to be responsible as an undemocratic country. Even I would tell, that the democracy in Slovakia is even more stable than in the Czech republic, which is evaluated better."
The yesterday's open letter to the Prime Minister and to the deputies, sent by nine Slovak bishops, got quite many positive and negative reactions. Six rectors of the universities in Bratislava and nearby towns fully supported this very important letter and challenged also his colleagues to protest against the non-democratic steps, manipulation of the public opinion, and bad political and social situation in the country.
The Hungarian Coalition continues in its discussions about the new leader of the coalition, and other structural issues. It was said the new leader would be from the Coexistence party, but the representatives of this party would like to get more top places in this coalition. The leader of the Magyar Christian-Democratic Movement Bela Bugar believes it wouldn't be the reason for which his movement would have to go into the elections alone. The dialogues will continue next week by the preparation of the candidates lists.
The Slovak National Party collected 54,000 signatures under its petition for neutrality of the Slovak Republic and the re-establishment of the capital punishment.
According to the deputy for the Party of Democratic Left Robert Fico, "the Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar is traveling around Slovakia as Santa Claus, with a big bag of fundamental stones for highways construction, so that the whole country has impression, that everywhere new highways are constructed." Robert Fico criticized the huge projects, which even cannot be financed by the state and the Prime Minister has to issue bonds that "the citizens could buy also from their money they did not pay tax from", as Vladimir Meciar said.
The Greenpeace's protest activity against the nuclear power plant in Mochovce began today. The international institutions will perform complex check in two weeks.
According to the Council of the Slovak (state) TV, the TV News of this Slovak TV are the most professional and the most objective from all three TVs in Slovakia: STV, VTV and Markiza.
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