OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 221, 13 November 1995

HUNGARIAN, SLOVAK PREMIER AT ODDS OVER LANGUAGE BILL. Hungarian Prime
Minister Gyula Horn said Hungary will seek urgent consultations with the
Council of Europe after no progress was made in talks with his Slovak
counterpart, Vladimir Meciar on Slovakia's controversial language bill,
Hungarian and Slovak newspapers reported. The two leaders met in Berlin
on 10 November while participating in an international conference on
European integration. Meciar stressed that the bill does not alter or
affect the use of minority languages and that further consultations with
Horn are difficult since the bill is now before the parliament. In other
news, the Conference of Bishops of Slovakia and several other Church
organizations have expressed opposition to aspects of the language law,
Pravda reported on 11 November.-- Zsofia Szilagyi and Sharon Fisher

HUNGARIAN HEALTH WORKERS STAGE DEMONSTRATION. Some 60,000 health workers
demonstrated outside Hungary's parliament building on 11 November,
demanding a 35% wage increase, a 10% increase in state funds for health
institutions in 1996, and the possibility of early retirement, Hungarian
media reported. Mihaly Kokeny, political state secretary at the Ministry
of Welfare, told Nepszava on 12 November that the health workers' wage
demands could not be met in the first half of 1996, and he proposed
further negotiations. The health workers say they will stage strikes if
the government does not guarantee a wage hike. The health workers are
the third group to protest the government's rigorous stabilization
program. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

HUNGARIAN OPPOSITION LEADER OUTLINES NEW PLATFORM. Jozsef Torgyan, the
populist leader of the Smallholders' Party, on 11 November told a crowd
of 10,000 at a Budapest sports hall that he expects early elections by
next fall and that his party is likely to repeat the 1945 election
victory of its predecessor, the historical Smallholder's Party,
Hungarian newspapers reported. The Smallholders popularity reached that
of the Socialists in September owing to growing popular discontent with
the ruling coalition. Torgyan said his party's top priority is to
provide an alternative to "the ransacking liberal-bolshevik power." As
part of its economic program, the Smallholders' Party will examine the
country's external and internal debts and release all relevant details
once it takes power, Torgyan said. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

ROMANIAN PRESIDENT REJECTS BISHOP TOKES'S "ALTERNATIVE RECONCIL-IATION"
PROPOSAL. Ion Iliescu on 12 November rejected Bishop Laszlo Tokes's
alternative proposal for Romanian-Hungarian reconciliation (see OMRI
Daily Digest, 1 November 1995), Radio Bucharest reported. He said that
proposal, based on the South Tyrol model, led to the "extremist
conclusion" that the only way toward reconciliation would be to grant
autonomy to the Hungarian minority. Iliescu further accused Tokes of
"systematically spreading lies about the situation of the Hungarian
minority in Romania." Meanwhile, Bela Marko, leader of the Hungarian
Democratic Federation of Romania, said Iliescu's proposal for
reconciliation was not a serious attempt to resolve differences but was
merely aimed at postponing a bilateral treaty between Romania and
Hungary, Reuters reported on 10 November. -- Matyas Szabo

[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Jan Cleave



Monday, 13 November1995
Volume 2, Issue 220


BUSINESS NEWS
-------------

         **MAKING IT RIGHT FOR PRIVATIZATION**
        Hungary's Finance Minister says his government won't shy away
        from laying off workers in the energy sector in order to
        ensure that it's streamlined in preparation for privatization.
        Lajos Bokros told an international conference on the
        privatisation of the Hungarian utility sector that "we will
        pursue the privatization of those sectors in spite of any kind
        of protest which may take place."  Bokros says the real
        problem isn't that wages are low but that there are too many
        employees. Bokros stressed that there will be layoffs, if
        necessary.  Hungary's electricity unions are threatening to
        strike over their demand for a 20 percent pay hike.  Last
        Wednesday they held a two-hour warning strike at the Tisza
        coal-fired power station.  The Hungarian government has said
        it can increase pay 21 percent to profitable state companies
        that show improved productivity. Workers in loss-making firms
        are limited to six percent raises. The Hungarian electricity
        utility MVM is expected to lose 120 million dollars this year.

        **HUNGARIAN HEALTH STRIKE?**
        Thousands of Hungarian health care workers rallied outside
        parliament Saturday.  They're demanding a 35 percent pay
        increase.  They also want cuts in welfare spending to stop.
        Democratic Union of Health Workers President Judit Gulyas told
        the demonstrators they had to stand together before presenting
        a petition to the speaker of parliament.  Union leaders met
        last week with Prime Minister Gyula Horn.  But they failed to
        persuade him to accept their demands and are now planning a
        strike.  The government has offered the health care workers a
        20 percent raise.

         **CET'S MARKET ANALYSIS**
        All of central Europe's bourses drifted sideways last week.
        Exchanges in Warsaw, Prague, and Budapest all lost ground.
        CET's David Fink has details in this week's market analysis.

        Czech shares are continuing to limp through a consolidation
        period on the Prague Stock Exchange. The PX50 closed last week
        at 434 point one.  That's down 7.2 points.  Activity on the
        bourse was overshadowed by rhetoric off it as Swedish forestry
        group Assi Doman and Bahamas-based investor Michael Dingman
        squared off for what could be the country's first significant
        takeover battle.  Both groups are vying for control of the
        paper concern Sepap.  A shareholders' meeting is scheduled for
        November 21st. Dingman's Stratton Investments, in conjunction
        with the Harvard Funds investment group claims to have a
        controlling stake in Sepap.  AssiDoman hold a third of the
        firm's shares.  Miroslav Nosal of Patria Finance expects
        there'll be more takeovers because investors are trying to buy
        shares ahead of an expected securities law amendment that
        should strengthen small shareholders' rights.  That would make
        it more expensive to take large stakes in Czech firms.

        Polish shares rose slightly last week after first round results
        of last Sunday's presidential election corresponded with
        market expectations.  Analysts say a second-round victory by
        President Lech Walesa over social democrat Aleksander
        Kwasniewski on November 19 could help spur growth.  The WIG
        index closed at 8,164.4 points, down 29.3 points.  Bohdan
        Kornacki, an analyst at Wielkopolski Bank Kredytowy brokerage
        says investors view Walesa a little more favorably than
        Kwasniewski.  So, according to Kornacki, if Walesa leads in
        opinion polls that should help the market a little.  Analysts
        say the exchange could challenge strong resistance levels at
        8,300 and 8,400 points by the middle of this week if Walesa is
        leading in opinion polls.  But analysts are warning investors
        might shun traded stocks next week and buy shares at public
        offerings of the Olawa and Kety non-ferrous metal plants.

        Prices drifted sideways on the Budapest Stock Exchange last
        week.  That confirmed the predictions of market players who
        forecast a continuation of the see-sawing trend. The BUX index
        closed Friday at 1,509.37 points, down 1.29.   Traders say,
        despite good corporate fundamentals, .interest in Hungarian
        shares has been moderate.  They say that's because investors
        are taking a wait-and-see stance ahead of foreign placements
        by drug maker Richter and national oil and gas company MOL.



ABOUT CET ON-LINE
-----------------

* CET On-Line is Copyright (c) 1995 Word Up! Inc., New Media
        Group, all rights reserved.  Not-for-profit redistribution of
        CET On-Line in electronic format is allowed only if our
        copyright notice, and all other copyright and by-line
        information contained in this publication is included.
        For-profit distribution of this publication or the information
        contained herein is strictly prohibited without the express
        written permission of Word Up! Inc., New Media Group.  These
        conditions are subject to change without notice.  For further
        information, contact Zoltan Nagy at >

Some portions of the news provided by special agreement with
        Reuters.  For information on Reuters news and information
        products, contact your local Reuters office.


* All "Letters to the Editor" and other comments about editorial
        content should be directed to Duncan Shiels at
        >.  Any comments about distribution or
        production should be directed to Zoltan Nagy at
        >.


**CET On-Line** is a Word Up! Inc., New Media Group Publication.
        The New Media Group also publishes the Prague Financial
        Monitor on-line.  For more information on the Prague FM, send
        a message with the word INFO in the body of a message to
        >.

For a copy of the latest issue of the Prague Financial Monitor,
        send a blank e-mail message to
        >.


**Subscription Information** CET On-Line is a free
        e-publication.  Subscribe by sending a message with the word
        SUBSCRIBE in the body of a message to
        >.  For an automated information
        response, send a blank message to >.

To unsubscribe at any time, send the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the
        body, not the subject line, of a message to
        >.

For a copy of the latest issue of CET On-Line, simply send a
        blank e-mail message to >.