RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol 2, No. 209, 29 October 1998

SLOVAK PARTIES SIGN COALITION AGREEMENT... The chairmen
of the four opposition parties that defeated outgoing
Premier Vladimir Meciar in the September parliamentary
elections have signed a coalition agreement. RFE/RL's
Bratislava bureau on 28 October reported that Slovak
Democratic Coalition (SDK) leader Mikulas Dzurinda is to
head the new cabinet, in which the SDK will have nine
seats. Party of Civic Understanding (SOP) chairman
Rudolf Schuster is likely to be the coalition's
candidate for president, and the SOP will have two
ministers. Party of the Democratic Left (SDL) chairman
Jozef Migas will be parliamentary chairman, and six SDL
members will be in the cabinet, including Brigitta
Schmognerova as finance minister. The Hungarian
Coalition will have three portfolios, including one
deputy premiership in charge of human rights and
minority problems. MS

HUNGARY, UKRAINE STRENGTHEN BILATERAL TIES. Ukraine
hopes that once Hungary is admitted into the EU and
NATO, it will be more effective in helping Ukraine's
quest for Euro-Atlantic integration, visiting Ukrainian
President Leonid Kuchma told his Hungarian counterpart,
Arpad Goncz, on 27 October. At a joint news conference
Kuchma accused the EU of discriminating against his
country by barring it from associate membership.
Ukrainian and Hungarian officials signed documents on,
among others, confidence-building measures in the
military sphere and developing the Hungarian-Ukrainian
border region. MSZ

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