On January 15, the leaders of the ruling coalition will hold their first Coalition Council meeting of the year.
After a series of crises last year, coalition leaders agreed to meet twice a month to smooth out any possible problems in advance. In addition to party leaders, each ruling party will delegate two other representatives to each such meeting.
The SNS wants to discus with its coalition partners changes to the territorial-administrative arrangement of Slovakia and changes to the electoral system in both regional and communal elections. SNS Chairman Ján Slota said that a proportional or at least combined electoral system would more closely approach an ideal situation. Instead of the existing eight counties, the SNS wants to divide Slovakia into three regions, while the cities of Bratislava and Košice would be given special status.
ĽS-HZDS Deputy Chairman Milan Urbáni chose not to react to Slota's proposal at this point.
Coalition representatives are also to speak about the agenda of the January parliamentary session. Speaker of Parliament Pavol Paška (SMER-SD) wants to submit to parliament a draft to curb deputy immunity from prosecution, but he does not yet have the support of the LS-HZDS. Urbáni said that they would prefer a revision that would re-evaluate immunity in a more comprehensive manner. SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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