RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE  24 February 2000

BUDAPEST WANTS ETHNIC HUNGARIANS IN ROMANIA TO STAY PUT. The
creation of a Hungarian University and the strengthening of
Hungarian-language higher education are preconditions for the
survival of Romania's Hungarian minority in their land of
birth, Foreign Ministry State Secretary Zsolt Nemeth told a
press conference on 22 February, summing up his visit to
Romania last week. "If this precondition is not fulfilled,
there will be a tendency toward a brain drain to Hungary,
especially after Hungary's accession to the EU," Nemeth said.
He added that secondary schools in Hungary are already
recruiting pupils from Hungarian-populated parts of
Transylvania in order to qualify for larger amounts of
funding from the Education Ministry. MSZ

HUNGARIAN VISITOR CONFIRMS CHARGES AGAINST ROMANIAN COMPANY.
Hungarian Justice Minister Ibolya David told her Romanian
counterpart, Valeriu Stoica, in Bucharest on 23 February that
Hungary will launch court proceedings against the Aurul
company "within two days." She said Hungary wants the assets
of the Romanian-Australian company suspected of causing the
recent cyanide spill to be seized in order to pay for the
damage, Romanian and Hungarian media reported. Also on 23
February, a large UN team of experts arrived in Romania to
open an investigation into the incident, which has cause
widespread pollution in Central European rivers. MS

ROMANIAN NATIONALISTS NOT TO PROSECUTED... The Arad
prosecutor's office announced on 22 February that it has
halted proceedings against Romanian nationalists who
disrupted last October's celebration of "Martyrs' Day" during
Hungarian Justice Minister David's visit to that city (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 7 October 1999). The prosecutor said the
demonstrators acted "spontaneously" and cannot be charged
with "breach of the peace. " MS

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