Wednesday, 20 September 1995
Volume 2, Issue 182


REGIONAL NEWS
-------------

**SERBIAN RESETTLEMENTS WORRY HUNGARIANS**
  Hungary said it sees no improvement in the situation of ethnic
  Hungarians living in Serbia's northern Vojvodina region.
  Foreign Ministry spokesman Gabor Szentivanyi said yesterday
  that in some settlements of Vojvodina, ethnic minorities,
  including Hungarians, have again received threatening letters
  ordering them to leave.  Hungary complained about the
  situation earlier this month to visiting Serbian Deputy Prime
  Minister Slobodan Babic.  But Szentivanyi said that did no
  good and there are reports of new threats to ethnic
  Hungarians.  Szentivanyi warned that if the threats continue
  and become more serious "this could worsen the relations of
  the two countries."  There are slightly more than 300,000
  ethnic Hungarians in Vojvodina.  They're afraid the settlement
  of over 100,000 Serbian refugees could cripple the area's
  delicate ethnic balance.  The refugees are from Croatia's
  Krajina region, which was retaken by Zagreb last month.


**PEACE SETTLEMENT MUST PRECLUDE NATO WITHDRAWL**
  U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry said the United States
  won't send troops to Bosnia until a final peace agreement is
  reached there.  In making that statement yesterday in Prague,
  Perry was rejecting a withdrawal initiative by U.N. Secretary
  General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.  Perry is midway through a
  week-long tour of former communist states in central Europe.
  Perry was asked about a new initiative by Boutros-Ghali to
  have the more than 30,000 UN military peacekeepers now in
  Bosnia quickly replaced by a large multinational force whether
  or not U.S. peacemaking efforts in Bosnia are successful.
  Perry replied that "if and when we get a peace settlement,
  then we are prepared to participate in a multi-national
  peacekeeping force under NATO command."  But Perry said there
  has to be a settlement first.  The Clinton administration has
  said when there is a peace agreement it's prepared to send
  18,000 troops to Bosnia to participate in a NATO peacekeeping
  force.   Also yesterday, Perry watched American, Czech and
  German troops stage joint exercises and said Washington wants
  the Czech Republic to join NATO.   About 600 troops from three
  countries are taking part in the peacekeeping exercise, which
  is being held at the Boletice military training area, 100
  miles south of Prague.  Perry will finish off his Czech trip
  with a meeting today with President Vaclav Havel.  He'll then
  fly to Budapest for talks with top Hungarian officials.
  --Robert Gray


BUSINESS NEWS
-------------

**NO CIGAR ON HUNGARIAN IMF LOAN**
  Hungary and the International Monetary Fund have ended their
  current round of talks without reaching an agreement on a
  standby loan.  The IMF said Hungary's economy has improved
  quite a bit since the beginning of this year, but warns that
  the country's debt is still increasing and the budget deficit
  needs to be cut more.  Hungary has been negotiating with the
  IMF for the $300 million loan for more than a year.  The IMF
  praised the austerity measures the government introduced last
  March, but said more cutbacks in spending on social services
  are needed.  Hungary and the IMF will continue their talks at
  the annual meeting of the World Bank and IMF in Washington
  this October.



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OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 183, 20 September 1995

SLOVAK PARLIAMENT CHAIRMAN CRITICIZED BY ETHNIC HUNGARIAN PARTY. Miklos
Duray, chairman of the ethnic Hungarian Coexistence movement, at a press
conference on 19 September criticized statements made the previous day
by parliamentary chairman Ivan Gasparovic. Gasparovic had told Slovak
Radio that the Slovak-Hungarian treaty could not be ratified until
several laws were approved, including those on the state language and
the country's territorial organization. Gasparovic said ratification
"should take place by the end of the year," while Duray stressed that
the treaty's ratification cannot be conditioned on the acceptance of
certain laws. Coexistence also rejected the cabinet's plans for defining
eight territorial districts, none of which would be more than one-third
ethnic Hungarian. It argued that the cabinet does not want the Hungarian
community to have "a single deputy" in the parliament. -- Sharon Fisher,
OMRI, Inc.

UPDATE ON HUNGARIAN COALITION. The Hungarian Socialist Party and the
Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ) have still not reached agreement on
the issue of the cabinet reform proposed by socialist Premier Horn and
strongly opposed by the SZDSZ, Nepszabadsag reported on 19 September.
The SZDSZ are also opposed to the Socialists' idea of renegotiating the
original coalition agreement as the next attempt to ease differences
within the coalition. Deputies have warned that the continuation of
disputes between the ruling parties could endanger political stability
and lead to the country's loss of credibility abroad. Relations between
the coalition parties have become more tense since last week, when the
Constitutional Court declared further parts of the Finance Minster Lajos
Bokros's austerity package unconstitutional. -- Zsofia Szilagyi, OMRI,
Inc.

[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Jan Cleave