Thursday, 26 October1995
Volume 2, Issue 208


REGIONAL NEWS
-------------

        **REFERENDUM MOVE ON HUNGARY'S NATO PARTICIPATION**
        Hungary's Workers' Party presented  a petition to parliament
        yesterday calling for an immediate referendum on the country's
        membership in NATO.  The Workers' Party doesn't have any seats
        in parliament.  It says it's collected almost 180 thousand
        signatures.  That is well above the 100 thousand necessary to
        force a referendum.  Party President Gyula Thurmer says once
        the signatures have been verified he expects a referendum to
        be held early next spring.  The Hungarian government has said
        it won't hold a referendum on NATO membership until the
        conditions of membership have been negotiated with the
        alliance.  NATO decided in September that talks with
        individual governments won't start before 1997.  In a poll
        published in June., 57 percent of Hungarians said they support
        NATO membership; while 16 percent were against it.

        **SLOVAKIA'S LANGUAGE PROBLEMS**
        The leaders of Slovakia's ethnic Hungarian political parties
        complained yesterday that the Slovak government has approved a
        language bill that discriminates against ethnic languages.
        The legislation says public employees and teachers should
        speak and write Slovakian.  But it doesn't specify the level
        of knowledge reqiured, nor who is to judge it.  Hungarian
        Christian Democratic Party Chairman Bela Bugar says that
        leaves room for subjective decisions.  Bugar adds that the
        legislation also requires that ethnic language broadcast by
        local and regional radio and TV stations could only be
        translations of the Slovak broadcasts.

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-----------------

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  Group, all rights reserved.  Not-for-profit redistribution of
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  copyright notice, and all other copyright and by-line
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  written permission of Word Up! Inc., New Media Group.  These
  conditions are subject to change without notice.  For further
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  Some portions of the news provided by special agreement with
  Reuters.  For information on Reuters news and information
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  editorial content should be directed to Duncan Shiels at
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  >.


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OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 210, 27 October 1995

HUNGARIAN PREMIER READY TO CONFER WITH MECIAR ON LANGUAGE LAW. Hungarian
Prime Minister Gyula Horn on 25 October told visiting ethnic Hungarian
party leaders from Slovakia that he would appeal to Slovak Prime
Minister Vladimir Meciar if Slovakia's language bill conflicted with the
Hungarian-Slovak basic treaty, Hungarian newspapers reported on 26
October. Horn added that the Hungarian government would also consult the
Council of Europe. Slovakia's language bill, which was approved by the
Slovak government on 24 October, restricts the use of the Hungarian
language. Ethnic Hungarian leaders in Slovakia fear that the bill
contravenes the Hungarian-Slovak treaty; but a final version has not yet
been published. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

HUNGARY WILL NOT SEND TROOPS TO BOSNIA. Hungarian armed forces chief of
staff Lt.-Gen. Sandor Nemeth on 26 October said that the Hungarian
government has informed NATO officials in Brussels that Hungary does not
intend to send armed troops to a NATO contingent that might be deployed
in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Magyar Hirlap reported the next day. Nemeth, who
is on an official visit to Rome, was quoted by MTI as saying that more
important for NATO was the Hungarian government's agreement in principle
to allow NATO troops to transit Hungarian territory. He added that NATO
understands Hungary's position. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

TOKES ACCUSES ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT OF ETHNIC CLEANSING. Reformed Church
bishop Laszlo Tokes, at a meeting with UN human rights representatives
in Geneva on 26 October, accused Romania's government of promoting
ethnic cleansing, Romanian media reported. Tokes, who is also the
honorary president of the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania,
said discriminatory treatment of the Hungarian minority is the reason
why ethnic Hungarians are emigrating from Romania. With the government's
passive complicity, extreme nationalist parties are promoting anti-
Semitic propaganda reminiscent of the years before the Holocaust, Tokes
commented. -- Matyas Szabo

[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Jan Cleave


(Elnezest az esetleges kisbetukert, de az eredeti szoveg csupa
nagybetuvel volt irva, amit at kellett cserelnem.)

Buchwald Amy

*****************************************************************

date=10/26/95
type=correspondent report
number=2-187513
title=E-U Trade (l-rerun)
byline=John Fraser
dateline=Brussels
content=
voiced at:

            // rerunning to clarify graf 4 of text //

Intro:  A European Union survey on trade with Central and Eastern
Europe reveals that most of these newer democracies still have
large trade deficits with the west.  John Fraser reports from
Brussels.

Text:  The E-U survey covers trade with most Central and Eastern
European countries -- including the Baltic States, but excluding
the former Soviet Republics.

It reveals that last year, the European Union had a trade surplus
with these countries of nearly five billion dollars -- a slight
rise on the  figure for the previous year.

In general terms, trade between the 15 nation E-U and its
neighbors in Eastern Europe is shooting up (increasing rapidly).

Exports from west to east increased by one half, while Eastern
European exports rose by nearly 60 percent.  The E-U's trade
balance, as a proportion of total (worldwide) trade, fell last
year from 19 percent to 16 percent.

The picture of trade varies widely from country to country.
Latvia, Lithuania and the Slovak Republic recorded small positive
trade balances with the European Union.

In contrast, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Croatia
registered large trade deficits -- with those of Poland and the
Czech Republic exceeding one billion dollars.

The Central and Eastern European states which have been most
successful at boosting exports to the European Union are the
Blatic States, the Slovak Republic and Croatia.

Those which are importing more and more from the west are the
Slovak Repubic, Estonia, Albania and Romania.

Bosnia is the only country in the region which dramatically
decreased its imports, presumably because of the effect of the
war there.

Ireland, Portugal and Spain are the E-U states which have most
raised their exports to Central and Eastern Europe -- although
Germany remains the dominant exporter, with half of the E-U
export total.

Belgium, Luxmembourg and Spain have boosted their imports the
most, while Germany, again, accounts for most imports overall --
more than half of the E-U total.

The main European Union exports include clothing, machinery,
vehicles, furniture, iron and steel,  mineral fuels, wood and
footwear. (Signoff)

neb/jf/mh/mmk

26-Oct-95 12:18 pm edt (1618 utc)
nnnn

source: Voice of America


Friday, 27 October1995
Volume 2, Issue 209


REGIONAL NEWS
-------------
        **UNCERTAIN RETURN TO CHECHNYA**
        The top international mediator in Chechnya may not be able to
        return to the rebellious Russian region after undergoing
        surgery in his native Hungary.  Hungarian foreign ministry
        spokesman Gabor Szentivanyi says Sandor Meszaros is recovering
        from an operation Tuesday., but it's uncertain whether
        Meszaros will be able to return to Chechnya.  Meszaros was
        hurt in a car accident in the Chechen capital Grozny on
        October 13.  His condition deteriorated and he had to return
        to Budapest.  Hungarian doctors discovered that Meszaros had a
        fractured rib and serious internal injuries requiring
        immediate surgery.  Frenchman Olivier Pelen will take over
        Meszaros's duties for the time being.  He's the deputy head of
        the OSCE mission in Grozny.  Meszaros's mandate expires at the
        end of this year.

BUSINESS NEWS
-------------

        **PHARM COMPANY UP FOR SALE**
        The Hungarian privatization agency, APV Rt , says it will sell
        its 46 percent stake in pharmaceutical company Biogal
        Gyogyszergyar in an international private placement.  Bank
        Austria-GiroCredit Befektetesi, the Hungarian subsidiary of
        the Austria group, will be the lead manager of the
        transaction.  Two previous privatization tenders for Biogal
        were unsuccessful.  Currently, Hungary's Magyar Hitel Bank
        holds a 31 percent stake in Biogal, while local governments
        and employees have the rest.

        **WORLD BANK HEAD COMING TO REGION**
        The president of the World Bank is going to visit Hungary this
        weekend to meet top government and central bank officials.
        CET's David Fink has more from Budapest.

        World Bank President James Wolfensohn is on a fact-finding
        mission.  He's starting in Hungary, but will also visit Russia
        and Albania.   A World Bank spokesman in Hungary says
        Wolfensohn wants to see a cross-section of the region's
        reforming economies.  Right now, negotiations are underway
        between Hungary and the World Bank on investment in a water
        quality project for Lake Balaton.  There are also discussions
        on the Hungarian government's state treasury system and
        measures to strengthen bank supervision.  The World  Bank is
        also preparing two four to five hundred million dollar credits
        to support entrepreneurial and financial restructuring and
        other state budget reforms.  Last June, the World Bank
        approved a one point three billion dollar three-year credit
        line to Hungary.  That followed the introduction of a March
        austerity package aimed at reining in rampant government
        overspending and reducing foreign debt which is the highest
        per capita in eastern Europe.  Some 400 million dollars of the
        credit line is conditional on Hungary reaching agreement with
        the International Monetary Fund on a standby facility. Hungary
        has been negotiating for over a year on that.

ABOUT CET ON-LINE
-----------------

* CET On-Line is Copyright (c) 1995 Word Up! Inc., New Media
  Group, all rights reserved.  Not-for-profit redistribution of
  CET On-Line in electronic format is allowed only if our
  copyright notice, and all other copyright and by-line
  information contained in this publication is included.
  For-profit distribution of this publication or the information
  contained herein is strictly prohibited without the express
  written permission of Word Up! Inc., New Media Group.  These
  conditions are subject to change without notice.  For further
  information, contact Zoltan Nagy at >

  Some portions of the news provided by special agreement with
  Reuters.  For information on Reuters news and information
  products, contact your local Reuters office.


* All "Letters to the Editor" and other comments about
  editorial content should be directed to Duncan Shiels at
  >.  Any comments about distribution or
  production should be directed to Zoltan Nagy at
  >.


**CET On-Line** is a Word Up! Inc., New Media Group
  Publication.  The New Media Group also publishes the Prague
  Financial Monitor on-line.  For more information on the Prague
  FM, send a message with the word INFO in the body of a message
  to >.

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