RFE/RL NEWSLINE
Vol. 1, No. 40, 28 May1997

HUNGARIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES BASIC TREATIES, DESPITE OPPOSITION
OBJECTIONS.
The parliament on 27 May passed bills approving Hungary's bilateral basic
treaties with Russia, Slovakia, and Romania, Hungarian media reported. Four
out of the five opposition parties--the Democratic Forum, the Independent
Smallholders' Party, the Christian Democratic People's Party, and the Alliance
of Young Democrats--voted against the Hungarian-Slovak basic treaty, pointing
to Slovakia's anti-democratic measures against its Hungarian minority. The
same parties abstained from voting on the Hungarian-Russian treaty because of
the unresolved issue of the return of Hungary's art treasures confiscated by
the Soviet Union. The opposition Democratic People's Party voted in favor of
the treaty with Romania, while the other four opposition groups abstained
again, arguing that the text of the treaty is "weak." However, they expressed
confidence in the current democratic changes in Romania

HUNGARY, VIETNAM TO BOOST ECONOMIC TIES. Visiting Vietnamese Prime Minister Vo
Van Kiet and his Hungarian counterpart, Gyula Horn, met in Budapest on 27 May
and agreed to improve economic cooperation and to build what they called
"politics-free ties, based on mutual advantage," Hungarian media reported.
Horn said his country wanted to participate in several projects in Vietnam,
and he offered assistance with the privatization program under way there.
Tamas Horvath, an adviser to Horn, said Hungary appreciated Vietnam's
"correctness" in repaying debts accumulated during the "Soviet era." He added
that Horn offered "preferential treatment" if Vietnam agreed to pay the
remaining debt (some $41 million) in installments larger than $ 3 million.

HUNGARIAN PRESIDENT ENDS ROMANIAN VISIT. Arpad Goencz on 26-27 May visited the
Transylvanian towns of Cluj and Targu Mures, both of which have large Magyar
populations. He was given a warm welcome, and the visit ended without
incidents. The nationalist mayor of Cluj, who earlier had called for
demonstrations against Goencz, urged Romanians in the city to refrain from
demonstrating and not to fall victim to the alleged "provocations" of
"hundreds of Hungarian agents disguised as tourists," an RFE/RL Cluj
correspondent reported. Both Goencz and President Emil Constantinescu vowed to
prevent extreme nationalists from undermining the historical reconciliation
between their countries, Reuters reported.

ROMANIA TO HAVE MEMORIAL FOR VICTIMS OF COMMUNISM. The Senate on 27 May
passed
a law providing for a memorial to the victims of communism to be erected in
the former Sighet prison in north-western Romania, where many of the country's
politicians and other elites were imprisoned and perished in the 1950s. The
house rejected an amendment moved by two members of the opposition Party of
Social Democracy in Romania, who wanted the memorial to be dedicated also to
the victims of the 1938-1944 dictatorships of King Carol II and Marshal Ion
Antonescu as well as to those who perished at the hands of the Fascist Iron
Guard movement, Mediafax reported on 27 May. The Chamber of Deputies approved
the initiative in April.

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               Copyright (c) 1997 RFE/RL, Inc.
                     All rights reserved.
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE
Vol. 1, No. 41, 29 May1997

HUNGARIAN-RUSSIAN PROTOCOL ON MINORITIES. Csaba Tabajdi, state secretary at
the Prime Minister's Office, and Russian Minister for Nationalities Vyacheslav
Mihailov met in Budapest on 28 May and initialed an agreement on cooperation
in minority affairs, Hungarian media reported. The agreement says the two
sides will study each other's minority policies and exchange delegations
annually. Tabajdi said that owing to the large ethnic minorities the two
countries have outside their state borders, he considers Russia to be
Hungary's "strategic partner."

CLINTON PRAISES IMPROVED ROMANIAN-HUNGARIAN RELATIONS... In a speech in The
Hague marking the 50th anniversary of the Marshall Plan, U.S. President Bill
Clinton on 28 May praised improved relations between Romania and Hungary. He
noted that "in Bucharest, democracy has overcome distress, as Romanians and
ethnic Hungarians for the very first time are joined in a democratic coalition
government." President Emil Constantinescu attended the ceremony.

 ...WHILE ROMANIAN, HUNGARIAN PRESIDENTS SEND MESSAGE TO CLINTON.
Constantinescu and Arpad Goencz, in a joint letter to President Clinton, say
their countries are "both interested in joining a united Europe built on
democratic values." They thanked Clinton for his support and said that the
"favorable evolutions in Romania in the last months" and the implementation of
provisions of the treaty Hungary and Romania concluded last year have created
"a historic chance for an active partnership" between the two countries. That
partnership, they noted, serves the interests of both the Magyar minority in
Romania and the Romanian minority in Hungary, Rompres reported on 28 May.

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               Copyright (c) 1997 RFE/RL, Inc.
                     All rights reserved.
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