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Slovak Press Today
BRATISLAVA, January 17, (SITA)--The domestic political event number one in Slovakia this weekend with extensive coverage in all newspapers on Monday was the national board meeting of the Movement for Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), the largest opposition party in Slovakia, which was supposed to approve an outline of transformation of this political entity to a standard political party.
Instead, the HZDS announced it would start a petition demanding a referendum requiring early parliamentary elections. NOVY DEN daily has once more proved to be the new HZDS propaganda vehicle, with almost its entire cover page dedicated to the HZDS national board meeting. The lead article is headlined Citizens Must Prevent Destruction. The HZDS has heeded the call of the citizens who are dissatisfied with the present situation in society and the development heading towards the destruction of structures of the state, and is launching a petition for early elections. An interview with HZDS chairman Vladimir Meciar on pages 1 and 3 is headlined Meciar: Interests of Slovakia Come First. The HZDS boss told the daily that his party not only entirely rejects the present form of transformation of society, but also those who are carrying it out. The present government consisting of eleven parties enables small parties with three percent support to dictate to 97 percent of the population who did not support that party, Meciar complains. PRAVDA too interviewed Vladimir Meciar. The interview on pages 1 and 6 is headlined We Will Still be Here Ten Years from Now, and unlike in the previous interview with NOVY DEN, this one has a somewhat more intimidating undertone. He told the daily that if their petition is successful, and a referendum on early elections ends with a negative result, the HZDS would not accept this as a signal to wait for regular elections in 2002. The HZDS would not quietly observe how this country is ruined. We will finds ways to express our dissatisfaction, Meciar warned. A commentary on page 6 headlined HZDS Trapped in Great Promises explains the motives of the conclusions of the HZDS national board meeting in view of the partys political history. Trade union daily PRACA brings an interview with the director general of Slovenske elektrarne, state-owned utilities company, who got into the center of a political controversy in association with a leaked draft contract on the export of spent nuclear fuel from Slovak nuclear power plants to Russia. The interview is headlined So That We Would Not Lose Millions and in a not very convincing manner Mr. Stefan Kosovan tries to explain the notion of the possibility to pay for the processing of spend nuclear fuel in cash instead of clearing it against old Russian debt towards Slovakia by practical needs, so that we would not lose millions. On page 5 the daily brings an interview with the chairman of the trade union federation of telecommunication workers Pavol Kyman. The interview is headlined The Situation in Companies is Beginning to Boil and among others Kyman speaks about the opinion of the unions towards planned privatization of Slovak Telecom. Unions in principle support the governments goals in this respect, Kyman said. SME dedicated its lead cover page article headlined Dzurinda and Constituent Parties of the SDK are Heading towards a Draw. The article analyzes the situation in the Slovak Democratic Coalition, the largest party in the governing coalition, in relationship to five political parties that established it before the elections in 1998. Some of the constituent parties would like a return of the SDK to a five-party coalition, which Prime Minister and SDK chairman Mikulas Dzurinda wants to prevent. He will meet with his partners from the five parties for the third time in a month on Monday, SME writes.
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