WEEKLY REVIEW OF EVENTS FROM JANUARY 7 TO 14

Ljubljana, 15 January - Several National Assembly committees spent last week preparing for the parliament's first session of the year, scheduled for January 25, while the advisory body to Herman Rigelnik, President of the National Assembly, produced a draft agenda. Tensions concerning the amendment to the coalition agreement ended on Wednesday when it was signed by the last partner in the coalition government, the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia. Doctors and dentists, who went on strike, caused some anxiety. At its Thursday session, the government agreed to their demand for a special professional collective contract. The cause for the strike was thus done away with. Besides the health workers' union FIDES several other trade unions expressed social discontent. In a statement concerning the Maribor Airport arms scandal, the Maribor prosecutor mentioned the possible role of Minister of Defence Janez Janša in it. Janša immediately protested. In international affairs the focus was on reactions to the NATO summit, which at the beginning of the week offered a Partnership for Peace to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, a sort of waiting room for admission to the NATO. The central event of the week was on Friday evening, when this and other issues were discussed at a meeting between Madeleine Albright, special envoy of US President Bill Clinton and US ambassador to the UN, and all leading representatives of Slovenian administration.