RFE/RL NEWSLINE 
Vol. 1, No. 148, 29 October 1997

MECIAR REJECTS DISCUSSING MINORITIES AT GABCIKOVO TALKS. In
a letter his Hungarian counterpart, Gyula Horn, Meciar has rejected
any discussion of other outstanding bilateral issues at talks on
settling the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros dam dispute. Hungarian media
reported on 28 October that Meciar said Slovakia is not setting any
preconditions for the start of negotiations following the ruling of the
International Court in The Hague and that Hungary should also
refrain from so doing. The letter came in response to a message from
Horn suggesting that the two countries also settle their disputes over
the status of minorities and over the reconstruction of a bridge
destroyed during World War II.

HUNGARIAN UNEMPLOYMENT REACHES RECORD LOW. According to
the Central Statistics Office, unemployment dropped to 8.1 percent in
the third quarter of 1997, its lowest level since 1989, Hungarian
media reported on 28 October. With 346,000 people registered as
unemployed, the figure is 0.5 percent down on the previous quarter
and 1.2 percent down on the same period of 1996.

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