RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol 3, No. 6, 11 January 1999

SLOVAK FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS GOAL IS NATO, EU
MEMBERSHIP. Eduard Kukan said on 9 January that
Slovakia's foreign policy goals are to improve relations
with its neighbors and to join the EU and NATO as soon
as possible. Kukan, speaking in an interview with
Hungarian Television, added that an important new
element in Slovak foreign policy is the country's
participation in the Visegrad group. He said that the
premiers of the other Visegrad countries--Poland,
Hungary, and the Czech Republic--will meet in Bratislava
in March. Kukan said participation with those soon-to-be
NATO members will help Bratislava's quest to accede to
that organization. In other news, the governing board of
the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) decided on 9
January that its members may belong to both the KDH and
the Slovak Democratic Coalition (SDK), of which the KDH
is a member. The decision is expected to defuse tension
between KDH leader Jan Carnogursky and SDK leader and
Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda. PB

HUNGARIAN RAIL STRIKE SUSPENDED AFTER COURT RULING.
Striking rail workers returned to work on 8 January
after the a labor court ruled that the strike was
illegal. The court said the Free Union of Rail Workers
(VDSZSZ) could have challenged in court the contract
signed between the State Railway Company (MAV) and two
other trade unions on 31 December 1998 but not by means
of a strike. VDSZSZ President Istvan Gasko said the
union will appeal the ruling within 15 days. The union
has suspended the strike for an indefinite period but
has not withdrawn it demands, he said. A MAV spokesman
told Hungarian media on 9 January that if the court
ruling is upheld, the company will sue the trade union
for the 500 million forint ($2.3 million) losses caused
by the strike. MSZ

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