The leaders of three parties of the governing coalition in Slovakia are meeting at the Coalition Council after almost six weeks on June 17. The HZDS has been complaining about a lack of communication in the coalition since the elections in June 2006. Following the coalition crisis last November, the parties representatives agreed to meet twice a month. Nevertheless, they do not meet that often.
"We meet if there is a problem," HZDS vice-chairman Milan Urbáni told the SITA newswire.
The SNS will ask for an increase in funding for housing construction for young families, flood prevention measures, as well as for the Envirofond, which should be used to finance development of sewage systems in towns and villages.
"Macroeconomic development is very good. We see room for increasing funds in the third quarter," SNS leader Ján Slota told SITA.
He specified that the SNS would want to increase the budget for each of the above fields by Sk0.5 billion - Sk1.5 billion. Nevertheless, SMER-SD vice-chairman Vladimír Maňka said that there were many important fields that require additional funding.
Slota also wants to open the issue of concluding a protocol between the Construction Ministry and county heads concerning the regional operational programme with the European Commission. This should shift some powers from the ministry to counties. The coalition leaders will probably also deal with the revision on area planning and construction order, returned by Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič to Parliament for re-working.
"We probably will not support the revision," said HZDS vice-chairman Miroslav Jureňa. SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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