The Coalition Council, the supreme government body, agreed on October 26 that the cabinet would be given the draft of a treaty between the Slovak Republic and the Vatican for discussion. Roman Kovač, the head of the Slovak Democratic Coalition's (SDK) parliamentary caucus, said that an expert group charged with preparing the wording of the treaty had completed its work, allowing for the cabinet to discuss the final version.
Kovač said that the former communist Party of the Democratic Left (SDĽ), which had said on October 23 that they had fundamental legal and political objections towards the draft treaty, had since re-confirmed its interest in achieving a treaty with the Vatican.
Slovak President Rudolf Schuster was scheduled to visit Italy and the Vatican on October 28 and 29, at which time he would report on the treaty's progress through government.
