Smooth First Months, But Frictions Possible

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BMI View: The past four months have on the whole supported our view that Slovakia's new three-party government would be more stable than its predecessor which, despite being united on a broad agenda of pro-Western reform, was subject to frequent bickering and crises. The coalition of the populist left-leaning Smer, the far-right Slovak National Party (SNS), and the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) of former authoritarian prime minister Vladimir Meciar, was relatively quick to agree a governing programme after its formation in early July, and has since put together with comparatively little fuss a 2007 budget plan that is currently on its way through parliament.