MEETING OF RULING FIVE-PARTY COALITION LEADERS BEGINS

ZAGREB, March 12 (Hina) - The presidents of all five ruling coalition parties met shortly after 11 o'clock Tuesday to resume talks on a way out of a deep crisis which has been shaking the coalition for several weeks. According to political analysts, today's meeting is expected to end with a solution to the current government crisis and improve relations among coalition partners. The ruling five-party coalition leaders arrived at the meeting with conclusions of their parties' presidencies on last week's agreement among the five presidents. The strongest coalition party, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), was the last one to voice its opinion on the agreement. According to SDP conclusions on the agreement, announced yesterday, the party insists that verbal consent is insufficient. Its presidency says it is necessary to sign full programme consent on priority items discussed at the meeting of the five coalition parties on March 5. The presidency warned the SDP president to accept no more departures from the electoral results or the established programme for the work of the government and the coalition. The SDP presidency said it supports the parliamentary democracy system, and cannot accept solutions to the coalition crisis which could lead to domination by party presidents to the detriment of the parliament and government. All parties in principle agreed to stay in the ruling coalition, but some demanded of their political partners to behave in keeping with agreements or to face consequences. The five ruling five-party coalition leaders did not give statements before the meeting. (hina) it