RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
___________________________________________________________
RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol 2, No. 73, 16 April 1998

POLAND, HUNGARY TO JOINTLY SEEK EUROPEAN INTEGRATION.
Aleksander Kwasniewski and Arpad Goncz, presidents of Poland
and Hungary, said on 15 April in Warsaw that their countries
are forming an alliance to seek entry to the EU and NATO,
Reuters and Hungarian sources reported. Goncz stressed that
Poland and Hungary are not rivals but partners on the road
to European structures. Kwasniewski pointed out that both
countries play the role of advocates in the integration
process, with Budapest supporting Slovenia and Romania at
international forums and Warsaw representing the interests
of Ukraine and the Baltic States. JM

PRO-MECIAR DAILY CALLS FOR STRONG ACTION AGAINST PLANNED
REFERENDUM. The pro-government "Slovenska Republika" on 14
April published an appeal to the government to use "any
means" to prevent a referendum in Sturovo on 19 April on
electing the country's president by popular vote and on NATO
membership. The referendum is identical to the one called
for by the opposition and annulled by Meciar after former
President Michal Kovac ended his term. "Slovenska Republika"
said the referendum in Sturovo had long been planned by
"Hungarian irredentists," and it called on the government to
mobilize special forces to prevent it. Meciar rejected the
appeal but said the next day that "the state must take
action against violators of the law," RFE/RL's Bratislava
bureau reported. MS

HUNGARIAN PARLIAMENT WILL NOT DEBATE RESTORING DEATH
PENALTY. Hungarian parliamentary chairman Zoltan Gal on 15
April said he will not convene a special session of the
parliament to debate the restoration of the death penalty.
The initiative for the debate came from Smallholders' Party
chairman Jozsef Torgyan, but the party has been unable to
gather the signatures of one-fifth of the deputies, as
demanded by the regulations. Gal said the initiative is
simply an "electoral campaign ploy," Hungarian media
reported. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on 15 April rejected
objections by the Federation of Jewish Communities to
allowing the neo-Nazi Hungarian Welfare Federation (MNSZ) to
run in the elections. The court ruled that the MNSZ is
legally registered as a political party. MS

ROMANIAN PREMIER ON DANGERS AHEAD. In an interview with
RFE/RL on 15 April, Vasile said Romania "has no more than
10-12 months to prove it is serious about economic reforms."
He warned that both reform and democracy are endangered by
the decline of living standards, which, he said, could
provoke a resurgence of extremism. The state bureaucracy's
opposition and its functioning on the basis of personal and
political favors also pose a danger, as does the "lack of
responsibility of politicians." Vasile pledged that the
state bureaucracy, starting with the government itself, will
be "drastically reduced." He said the participation of
representatives of the Hungarian minority in the government
is "beneficial" and that Romania will never face inter-
ethnic and religious conflicts such as those in former
Yugoslavia. MS

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
               Copyright (c) 1998 RFE/RL, Inc.
                     All rights reserved.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx