RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol 2, No. 239, 14 December 1998

EU SUMMIT NAMES NO DATES FOR WOULD-BE MEMBERS. Meeting
in Vienna on 11-12 December, leaders of the 15 EU member
countries failed to offer applicant states any concrete
dates for possible membership. The Czech Republic,
Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, and Cyprus are all
taking part in so-called fast-track entry talks. The
summit also declined to invite any of the other five
would-be members--Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania,
and Slovakia--to join the fast-track group. Following
the release of the European Commission's annual progress
reports last month, Latvia, in particular, had been
hoping to move up to that group (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"
5 November 1998). A statement issued at the end of the
Vienna summit says only that the European Council
"welcomes progress in preparation for accession
negotiations with Romania, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania
and Bulgaria as described in the Commission's reports."
JC

HUNGARY, SLOVAKIA MAINTAIN POSITIONS IN DAM DISPUTE. The
heads of the Hungarian and Slovak delegations
negotiating a settlement to the controversial Gabcikovo-
Nagymaros dam dispute met with the president of the
International Court of Justice in The Hague on 11
December. The positions of the two sides, however, have
not come closer, Hungarian media reported. Hungarian
delegation head Gyorgy Szenasi told journalists that
Slovakia is insisting that the court admonish Budapest
for failing to reach an agreement and set a deadline for
the implementation of its earlier ruling. Hungary admits
that both sides are entitled to seek a second ruling but
argues that the Slovak approach is unacceptable, Szenasi
said. He expressed hopes that bilateral talks will help
solve the dispute. Those talks are scheduled to resume
on 28 January. MSZ

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