RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE  19 October 1999

BRITAIN PRAISES HUNGARY'S PROGRESS. Great Britain strongly
supports Hungary's admission to the EU because it believes
Budapest has made considerable progress in its preparations
for EU accession, British Secretary of State for European
Affairs Keith Vaz told Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos
Martonyi on 18 October. Vaz, who was appointed to his post
last week, said he selected Budapest as the destination for
his first trip abroad in order to show the importance the
U.K. attributes to Hungary's bid to join the EU. In other
news, Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced on 18 October
that his cabinet will consider a request from Australia to
take part in peacekeeping operations in East Timor. MSZ

RUSSIAN GAS ARRIVES IN SERBIA. Serbian Energy Minister Zivota
Cosic said in Belgrade on 18 October that Russian gas
deliveries via Hungary have resumed. Russia's Gazprom will
provide some 4.5 million cubic meters of gas per day. It is
unclear whether Serbia has cleared its $20 million debt to
the Hungarian MOL company and signed a transit agreement,
which the Hungarian authorities had demanded. Hungary
observes EU sanctions against Belgrade but has agreed to
limited gas deliveries on humanitarian grounds, Reuters
reported. PM

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RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE  20 October 1999

HUNGARY'S TOP OFFICIALS IN BRUSSELS TALKS. "Hungary's main
challenge is to bring closer the date of its being ready for
EU membership and to hasten the date of accession," Prime
Minister Viktor Orban said on 19 October after meeting with
European Commission Chairman Romano Prodi. Foreign Minister
Janos Martonyi told Prodi that "Hungary could live with an
accession date of 1 January 2003" but would prefer meeting
its own 1 January 2002 target date. Martonyi added that
Hungary would be prepared to accept an EU decision to grant
Poland membership first. However, Guenter Verheugen, the EU
commissioner for expansion, said that the five Eastern
European countries that were selected for fast-track
negotiations should be encouraged not to aim for different
accession dates. MSZ

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               Copyright (c) 1999 RFE/RL, Inc.
                     All rights reserved.
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