OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 83, 27 April 1995
HUNGARIAN PREMIER ON VISEGRAD COOPERATION. Guyla Horn, addressing the
Council of Europe in Strasbourg on 26 April, argued that the efforts of
Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia to integrate into
Western structures require "close cooperation." But he noted that
Hungary is not in favor of "institutionalizing" cooperation among the
Visegrad four, Hungarian and international media reported. The prime
ministers of two Visegrad members--Poland and Hungary--agreed on 25
April to coordinate their countries' efforts to join NATO and the
European Union. -- Jiri Pehe, OMRI, Inc.
ROMANIAN PRESIDENT ON DEVELOPMENTS IN STRASBOURG. Ion Iliescu on 26
April said that Romania will ratify only those international documents
that correspond with its policies and interests, Radio Bucharest
reported. Iliescu was responding to the 25 April vote in the Council of
Europe's Parliamentary Assembly in favor of making Recommendation 1201
on ethnic minority rights mandatory for all council members. Also on 26
April, presidential spokesman Traian Chebeleu rejected a statement by
Parliamentary Assembly President Miguel Angel Martinez likening the
issue of the Hungarian minority in Romania to that of the Romanian
minority in Ukraine. Chebeleu stressed that the Romanian government has
never asked for territorial autonomy for Romanians in Ukraine, has not
summoned the leaders of ethnic organizations to Bucharest to give them
instructions, and is not "systematically funding" political parties
based on ethnic criteria in other countries. Romania opposes the
inclusion of Recommendation 1201 in a basic treaty with neighboring
Hungary. -- Dan Ionescu, OMRI, Inc.
ROMANIA CONCEDES RUSSIAN VETO OVER ITS NATO ENTRY. Romanian Deputy
Defense Minister Ioan Mircea Pascu on 26 April conceded that Russia has
an effective veto over Romania's entry into NATO. Pascu is quoted by
RFE/RL as saying in Washington that it was a "striking coincidence" that
NATO expansion seemed to move ahead only when Russia said it would
compromise on the issue; as soon as Russia hardened its position, the
issue seemed to lose momentum. Pascu added that East European countries
would lose "an historic moment" unless negotiations led to Russian
acceptance of their entry into NATO. He also noted that Romania and
Poland should be the first allowed to join NATO, since the Czech
Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria would automatically become de
facto members by virtue of being located between two NATO countries. --
Michael Mihalka, OMRI, Inc.
[As of 12:00 CET]
Compiled by Jan Cleave
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A tovabbterjesztest a New York-i szekhelyu Magyar Emberi Jogok
Alapitvany tamogatja.
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Reposting is supported by Hungarian Human Rights Foundation News
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Thursday, 27 April 1995
Volume 2, Issue 82
BUSINESS FEATURE
----------------
**PASSENGERS SLEEP WITH ONE EYE OPEN ON CENTRAL EUROPEAN RAILS**
By James Drake
There are plenty of people these days, businessmen and women
especially, who regularly commute between the major cities of
central Europe. The quickest, though most expensive way of
making the journey is to fly. But, as often as not, business
tavelers take the night train. It's much cheaper and
eliminates the need for a night in a hotel. At least that's
the theory, but traveling by night train isn't always so
hassle-free.
Prague main railway station, 10:20 in the evening and the night
train to Bratislava, Budapest and Bucharest is just pulling
out. Chances are, there are a few nervous people on board. In
the last year or two, the train has earned a shady reputation.
Tales abound of thieves breaking into sleeper compartments
and spraying their occupants with gas or drugging them with
chloroform. The victims wake in the morning with a king-sized
hangover and all their possessions gone. Czech railway police
have said they send plainclothes officers onto the trains to
catch the thieves, but won't reveal just how successful
they've been. Not very according to Jack Sliva, an American
english teacher who frequntly rides the night train. On a trip
in early April, Silva decided to turn undercover agent. Armed
with a camera he sat up and waited for the thieves to shine
their flashlights into his compartment. When the men saw he
was awake, they moved on to the next car. Sliva takes up the
story:
"They looked as though they were going on a hunt, so I just
followed them in. I took a picture, at which point the man
with the club started laying into me. He gave me this black
eye, but he was nice about not destroying the camera. He just
took the film out and exposed it and gave me a couple of
whacks and was on his way."
According to others who ride the train, though, such violence is
rare. The thieves generally rely on stealth and guile to earn
their living. They don't just work the Prague-Budapest run
either. The US consulate in Krakow, for example, has issued a
warning to Americans traveling by train in Poland. They have
said passengers should be particularly careful on night trains
from Budapest to Krakow. As well as Eurocity and Intercity
trains between Warsaw and Berlin and between Warsaw and
Vienna. Travelers should also be vigilent in Warsaw's main
train station, where thieves frequently pickpocket people as
they enter or leave trains, causing a distraction and then
pushing down the aisle past exiting passengers. Polish police
have said organized gangs will typically identify vulnerable
targets, such as those wearing large amounts of jewellry, or
travelers encumbered with heavy luggage. Even so, there are
some who've said the problem has been exaggerated. Pavel
Kratochvil is a conductor between Prague and Budapest.
"I don't think this is any different to a night train in the
west. If you're careful, you can avoid trouble. Most of the
thieves are Gypsies and you can tell they're up to no good
just by looking at them."
Even if you can't quite spot troublemakers as easily as
Kratochvil, there are other ways to minimize the risk of
getting robbed. When traveling by night train, for example,
steer clear of the second class coach compartments, these have
glass doors which can be easily opened from the corridor.
Instead, spend a little extra cash on either a second or first
class sleeper compartment, whose doors can be double locked
from the inside. And when pulling into stations along the
way, make sure the window is closed and locked. With a little
common sense, you should wake up at your destination safe and
sound.
ANALYSIS
--------
**POLITICAL MOTIVES UNDERLIE HUNGARIAN PETITION FOR CHANGE**
By Duncan Shiels
Hungary's opposition Smallholders Party has collected more than
the 100,000 signatures needed to force a referendum on whether
the president should be elected directly by the people.
Currently, the president of Hungary is elected by Parliament.
Hungary's Constitutional Court may declare the proposed
referendum illegal because it would alter the Constitution.
The ruling Socialists have said that even if the referendum
goes ahead there wouldn't be time to organize it before
current President Arpad Goncz's term runs out in August. The
Constitutional Court has already ruled twice on whether the
Constitution can be changed by referendum. In 1989 it allowed
a plebiscite in which the population voted for the present
system, under which the president is elected by Parliament.
CET spoke with Constitutional Court expert Andrew Arato, of
the new School of Social Research in New York, to find out
what lies behind the Smallholders demand for change. He said
there is a political dimension to the Constitutional Court's
deliberations over the petition sponsored by the Smallholders.
Arato: The political element in this case is that at this time
the major parties are opposed and only one party, which is a
partly anti-systemic party, an anti-regime party, or the
closest that Hungary gets to a parliamentary but anti-systemic
party, is supporting it. It will be tough for the courts,
politically.
CET: So your feeling is that they'll go against the referendum?
Arato: Yes, and the legal reason would be that there is a
precedent now. It's a shaky precedent because similar
referenda were permitted in the past, but it's a precedent all
the same and they could apply it.
CET: If it does allow the referendum, and obviously that's the
less likely of the two possibilities, the Socialist Party has
said that even if the court does uphold the demand there'll be
no time to organize a referendum before Goncz's mandate runs
out. Is this true? Is this genuine?
Arato: Well, you see it's not just a referendum. You have to
hold a referendum and then you have to organize a presidential
election, so you have to, in a way, have both of these events
taking place. A referendum could certainly be held, but
whether you can now organize a referendum, which presumably
would take several weeks to organize, hold it, and then leave
enough time for a full-fledged presidential campaign.
CET: Of course the Socialists, or rather the coalition
government, including the Free Democrats as well, take the
same position. They wouldn't be in a hurry to organize a
referendum anyway, would they?
Arato: Well, you know Goncz will win any election at this
point. There's no reason to think that anyone could come even
close to beating him. So from the point of view of the Free
Democrats it's after all a question of principles. They would
gain on the basis of having a president with some sort of
plebiscitary authority.
CET: Why do you think the Smallholders want to change the
system if Goncz is certain to win even in a free vote?
Arato: The Smallholders don't care about that. The
Smallholders, I think, are thinking in longer term. First of
all, it's popular. The population wants a directly elected
president. They don't want it intensely enough to turn out
necessarily in a referendum. The population prefers a
directly elected president but doesn't seem to do it intensely
enough. It's a popular issue and that's one reason why
Torgyan and the Smallholders wish to push it. They also
linked it, as you know, in their referendum proposal to a lot
of economic-social issues, and those are popular obviously as
well. So they hope to gain by the referendum long-term
support. They are a party that has a good chance to become
much stronger as this particular electoral cycle proceeds
towards the next election.
CET: As the Socialist Party's popularity wanes, you mean?
Arato: It's waning. It has to wane, given the economic
policies they are now adopting. The Free Democrats, along
with them to some extent. But they, I think, will maintain,
of course, significant strength for the next election.
There's no reason to imagine they'll go by the way of the
Democratic Forum. The thing is that the right-wing parties
are very weak, and that means that the Smallholders get both
disaffected voters from the governmental block, some they have
certainly already gotten in the polls, but they're also
picking up voters from the right. There's a very strong
anti-political, anti-system attitude in Hungary which it's
difficult for the Democratic Forum and its former coalition
allies to exploit because they were in government. The vote
that is disgusted with the nuts and bolts and the every day
reality of democratic politics is going to him, and that's a
significant vote in Hungary.
CET: The Smallholders will still presumably come out of it
pretty well, having taken up an issue that's popular, that the
other parties won't.
Arato: They'll come out fine.
CET: So it really doesn't matter to them. The important thing
is people will remember them for taking up this issue in the
first place?
Arato: And linking them to a group of economic demands as
well. Very populist and highly redistributionist, but still
popular also. So they'll be remembered, they're gaining from
this.
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A tovabbterjesztest a New York-i szekhelyu Magyar Emberi Jogok
Alapitvany tamogatja.
[*] [*] [*] [*] [*][*] [*][*][*]
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[*][*][*] [*][*][*] [*][*] [*][*]
[*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*]
[*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*]
Reposting is supported by Hungarian Human Rights Foundation News
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