The RFE/RL DAILY REPORT--a digest of the latest developments in
Russia, Transcaucasia and Central Asia, and Central and
Eastern Europe--is published Monday through Friday (except
German holidays) by the RFE/RL Research Institute, a division of
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc., which also publishes
monographs, a weekly journal, and other periodicals (see end of
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Copyright 1994 RFE/RL, Inc.


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     RFE/RL Daily Report
                        No. 128, 8 July 1994


EASTERN FOREIGN MINISTERS CONVENE IN WARSAW. Opening a meeting of
nine foreign ministers in Warsaw on 7 July, US Secretary of State
Warren Christopher said that there cannot--and will not--be a gray
sphere of instability in Central and Eastern Europe. The
ministers--from Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary,
Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia--endorsed a
continued US military and economic presence in Europe. Christopher
pledged continued US assistance, particularly in reducing the
social costs of reform. Hungary sent both current and future
foreign ministers to the meeting, a gesture that Polish Foreign
Minister Olechowski praised as a sign that parties come and go;
consensus remains. Louisa Vinton, RFE/RL, Inc.



ETHNIC HUNGARIANS PROTEST IN CLUJ. On 7 July some 3,000 ethnic
Magyars from Transylvania staged a rally at a monument to Hungarys
mediaeval King Matthias Corvinus in Cluj, Radio Bucharest and
Budapest report. The protest was directed at plans approved by
Gheorghe Funar, the towns ultra-nationalist mayor, for
archeological digs at the site of the statue. There were scuffles
as the crowd tried to break through police lines ringing an area
around the monument. The situation in Cluj remains tense, with
members of the large Hungarian minority fearing that the
excavations might offer an excuse to the authorities to remove the
statue. Funar, who had ordered a Romanian inscription placed on
the statue, has been accused of favoring its move to another
location. According to MTI, the outgoing Hungarian government
expressed its grave concern that Funars actions could deepen
ethnic tensions and jeopardize democratic progress in Romania. Dan
Ionescu and Judith Pataki, RFE/RL, Inc.



HUNGARIAN PRESIDENT FIRES MEDIA BOSSES. Effective 8 July,
President Arpad Goncz dismissed the heads of state-owned Hungarian
Radio and Television, Laszlo Csucs and Gabor Nahlik. The two
figures were controversial and had been accused of catering to the
Hungarian government. After the defeat of the ruling Hungarian
Democratic Forum in the May elections, Prime Minister Peter Boross
agreed to dismiss the two as a gesture to the new government. The
signature of the president is needed to make the dismissals valid,
but Goncz, for reasons unknown, did not immediately sign the
dismissals. Only at the special request of Hungarian Socialist
Party (HSP) leader Gyula Horn and Alliance of Free Democrats
Chairman Ivan Peto did Goncz finally sign the dismissals. Since
the coalition partners have still not yet decided on replacements,
the economic directors will be put into charge of the media, with
limited authority, as of 9 July. Judith Pataki, RFE/RL, Inc.




STOLEN JEWISH ART RECOVERED IN BUCHAREST. Hungarian National
Police Headquarters told MTI on 6 July that most of the art
treasures stolen from the museum of Budapests main synagogue on 12
December 1993 has been recovered. In cooperation with Romanian,
Austrian, and German police, the art treasures were recovered near
Bucharest. Suspects with German and Romanian citizenship were
arrested. The value of the treasures was estimated at $60-80
million. Hungarian police praised the cooperation with the police
forces of the other countries involved. Judith Pataki, RFE/RL,
Inc.


[As of 1200 CET]

Compiled by Stephen Foye and Louisa Vinton
Copyright 1994, RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.