OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 188,  27 September 1996

EX-JUDGE: TOP HUNGARIAN SOCIALIST LEADERS WERE FORMER "AGENTS." Jozsef
Eigner, in a recent interview with the daily Uj Magyarorszag, has accused
Prime Minister Gyula Horn, Speaker of Parliament Zoltan Gal, and deputy
Matyas Szuros of working as secret service agents under the communist
regime. All three rejected his allegations, Hungarian dailies reported on
27 September. Eigner formerly served on a committee established by the
previous government to check the backgrounds of key public figures and root
out those who had been secret agents. He was eventually removed from the
committee after it was alleged that while serving as a judge in the 1950s,
he had passed some sentences of a political nature. The committee was
subsequently abolished, and its successor set up only recently following
amendments to its mandate. According to a statement issued by the Prime
Minister's Office, the allegation is "groundless" and is clearly aimed at
trouble-making, slander, and discrediting the prime minister. -- Zsofia
Szilagyi


ROMANIAN SENATE RATIFIES TREATY WITH HUNGARY. The Romanian Senate on 26
September ratified the basic bilateral treaty with Hungary, Radio Bucharest
and Western media reported. The treaty was signed 10 days ago in Timisoara
by the prime ministers of the two countries. Senators representing the
ultra-nationalist Party of Romanian National Unity voted against
ratification of the treaty. They were joined by several senators from the
Socialist Labor Party, the Greater Romanian Party, and the Hungarian
Democratic Federation of Romania, the main political organization
representing Romania's Hungarian minority. Prime Minister Nicolae Vacaroiu
attended the session. The treaty, which is expected to end the long-
standing rivalry over Transylvania and help improve the situation of the
1.5 million-strong Hungarian minority in Romania, is considered vital for
the two countries' aspirations to join the EU and NATO. -- Dan Ionescu


[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Jan Cleave