OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 112, 10 June 1996

CENTRAL EUROPEAN PRESIDENTS MEET IN LANCUT, POLAND. The presidents of
Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia,
Slovenia, and Ukraine met in Lancut, southeastern Poland, on 7-8 June to
discuss European integration. Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski
said expanding the EU and NATO should be a natural move crowning the
integration process that started after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, specially invited to the meeting by
Kwasniewski, stressed that a new European security system should not
exclude Russia. The meeting was the fourth of its kind; the first one
was in July 1993, in Salzburg, and the next will take place in Slovenia
in 1997. -- Jakub Karpinski

SLOVAK POLITICAL UPDATE. Meeting on 7 June, Slovak opposition parties
called for representation on the bodies overseeing the Slovak
Information Service, TV, radio, and the National Property Fund (FNM),
TASR reported. Although his party did not attend the meeting, Party of
the Democratic Left Chairman Jozef Migas said that if deciding between
early elections and entrance into the current government, "we would
choose early elections," Narodna obroda reported on 10 June. Slovak
National Party chairman Jan Slota told Sme that his party--a junior
coalition partner--wants to become "a mediatorŠbetween opposition and
coalition parties with the aim of calming current tensions." Meanwhile,
Olga Keltosova of the ruling Movement for a Democratic Slovakia said her
party hopes to win the 1998 elections so that "it will not need
coalition partners." In other news, the opposition Democratic Union and
the ethnic Hungarian Coexistence movement on 7 June gained full
membership in Liberal International. -- Sharon Fisher

HUNGARIAN PREMIER WOULD REINSTATE CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. Prime Minister
Gyula Horn said during a weekend political forum that Hungarians should
decide in a referendum whether to restore the death penalty, Hungarian
dailies reported on 10 June. Horn added he would vote "yes" on such a
referendum. The statement, clearly aiming to restore Horn's popularity
among workers, surprised Justice Minister Pal Vastagh, who responded
that a popular vote on the issue would not be possible without a ruling
by Hungary's Constitutional Court. Restoration of the death penalty
would violate several international agreements and cause Hungary to lose
its membership in the Council of Europe, Vastagh added. Lawyers later
commented that Hungarian law does not provide for referenda on issues
regulated by international agreements. Public debate over the death
penalty has intensified recently as crime and mafia operations have
increased. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

HUNGARY UNVEILS STATUE OF MARTYRED PREMIER. President Arpad Goncz on 6
June unveiled Hungary's first public statue of former Premier Imre Nagy,
who led the 1956 uprising against the Soviets and was executed by
collaborators after the uprising was crushed, Hungarian dailies
reported. Thousands of spectators, including leading politicians,
attended the ceremony, which marks the 100th anniversary of Nagy's
birth. The life-size bronze statue was unveiled on Vertanuk [Martyrs']
Square in central Budapest, one of the bloodiest scenes of the uprising.
Meanwhile, there is talk between Hungarian and Russian officials on
possibly naming a Moscow street after Nagy. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

[As of 1200 CET]

Compiled by Susan Caskie