RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE  29 February 2000

HUNGARIAN PARLIAMENT VOTES FOR INCOMPLETE MEDIA BOARD. The
parliament on 28 February approved a board of trustees for
Hungarian Television that includes no opposition
representatives. The media law states that the boards of
trustees of state-run broadcast media must include four
governing party and four opposition members. Last year,
however, the opposition extreme-right Hungarian Justice and
Life Party had prevented a consensus being reached among
opposition groups by insisting that it nominate two of the
opposition's four representatives on the board. Before the 28
February vote, parliamentary speaker Janos Ader noted that
"regrettably the opposition parties could not agree on
fielding joint candidates," and he proposed that the
lawmakers vote only on the representatives of the governing
parties. MSZ

UN EXPERTS EXAMINE HUNGARY'S TISZA RIVER. Twenty-four UN
experts examining the damage caused by the cyanide spill
originating from Romania have begun their work along
Hungary's Tisza River, Hungarian media reported on 28
February. Environment Minister Pal Pepo announced the same
day that some 200 tons of dead fish--some 15 percent of the
total number--have been collected from the Szamos and Tisza
Rivers in Hungary. He said his ministry will allocate 250
million forints ($950,000) to assess the damage, 300 million
forints to repair that damage, and 200 million forints for
research. MSZ

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