OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 239, 12 December 1996

SLOVAK PRESIDENT ADDRESSES PARLIAMENT. President Michal Kovac delivered
a very critical annual report on the state of the nation on 11 December,
saying the ruling coalition is leading Slovakia into international
isolation, press agencies reported. Before the speech, all governing
coalition deputies left the parliament. Kovac said it is becoming
customary that Slovakia is excluded from the first group of candidates
for NATO and EU membership and added that the government is not reacting
to such signals. He also criticized state TV for broadcasting
"disinformation, apparently produced to manipulate public opinion," and
called for a dialogue with minorities and implementation of the Slovak-
Hungarian treaty. -- Anna Siskova

ANTI-CRIME CONFERENCE OPENS IN BULGARIA. A three-day conference on
combating organized crime and corruption opened in Sofia on 11 December,
RFE/RL reported. The meeting is jointly sponsored by the Council of
Europe (CE) and the EU. Ministers and experts from 16 Central and East
European countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic,
Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland,
Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine) and CE legal and crime
experts will attend. The conference is part of a year-long "Octopus"
project, which aims at providing the participating countries with legal
instruments to fight crime. -- Stefan Krause


[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Sava Tatic