OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 21, 30 January 1997

HUNGARIAN POLITICAL ROUNDUP. The opposition Hungarian Democratic Forum
has again called for a no-confidence motion in Prime Minister Gyula
Horn's coalition government, Hungarian media reported on 30 January. It
argued that economic problems--together with the ongoing privatization
scandal in which both governing parties have been implicated--are behind
the country's current crisis. But despite its repeated calls for Horn's
resignation, the Smallholders' Party seems unlikely to back the
initiative. Meanwhile, Tamas Deutsch, vice president of the opposition
Young Democrats, has ruled out pre-election cooperation between his
party and two of the four other opposition parties in the parliament.
Horn has indicated that general elections will be held in May 1998. --
Ben Slay

ROMANIA SEEKS CLOSER TIES WITH NEIGHBORS. Foreign Minister Adrian
Severin told a press conference in Strasbourg that Romania is actively
seeking closer relations with its neighbors, an RFE/RL correspondent
reported on 29 January. Severin said that his country was considering
forming a "triangular association" between Poland, Ukraine, and Romania
and that Hungary might eventually join the group. According to Radio
Bucharest, he also discussed the pending basic treaty with Ukraine,
saying it was imperative to avoid the "Pandora box" in which the talks
had been stranded so far--an apparent allusion to Romania's former
insistence that the treaty mention the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. Severin
added that Romania now wants a reference to Council of Europe
Recommendation 1201 to be included in the treaty to ensure the
protection of the rights of the Romanian minority in Ukraine. That
recommendation is referred to in Romania's basic treaty with Hungary.
Romania's relations with Hungary have improved recently, Severin
commented, adding that they are even considering the formation of a
joint military unit similar to the Franco-German one. -- Zsolt Mato

[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Jan Cleave

OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 22, 31 January 1997

NATO REJECTS BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT'S PROPOSAL FOR NUCLEAR-FREE ZONE.
NATO
has rejected Alyaksandr Lukashenka's proposal to create a nuclear-free
zone in Central and Eastern Europe, AFP reported on 30 January. The zone
would have included Belarus, Ukraine, the Baltic states, Poland,
Hungary, and the Czech Republic. NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana
said in a letter to Lukashenka that the alliance welcomes the withdrawal
of all nuclear weapons from Belarusian territory but cannot support
creating a denuclearized zone in the region. It also said that member
countries of the alliance have "no intention, plan or motive to deploy
nuclear arms on the territory of the new members." Meanwhile, Belarusian
Foreign Minister Ivan Antanovich confirmed that the Russian and
Belarusian position on NATO enlargement remains unchanged, Nezavisimaya
gazeta wrote. He stressed that if the alliance were to be enlarged,
Belarus and Russia would be compelled to revise their security policies.
-- Sergei Solodovnikov


[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Jan Cleave