RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE  27 January 2000

SLOVAK PREMIER SAYS MINISTERS RECEIVED ILLEGAL BONUSES. Prime
Minister Dzurinda on 26 January said special bonuses of more
than 100,000 crowns ($2,439) paid to cabinet ministers at the
end of 1999 were illegal, TASR reported. Dzurinda said that
in response to the public outcry over the bonuses, he asked
five legal experts to examine the bonuses and four of them
confirmed that the bonuses violated a 1993 law. The prime
minister said the cabinet agreed on 26 January that each
minister would return the bonuses. In other news, the
Hungarian Coalition Party, which is part of the governing
coalition, accused Agriculture Minister Pavol Koncos of
refusing to return state land that was confiscated before
1948 according to the Benes decrees. It accused Koncos of
"playing the nationalist card." VG

HUNGARIANS CONSIDER KADAR ERA ONE OF BRIGHTEST PERIODS.
Respondents to a recent Gallup public opinion poll said
Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party leader Janos Kadar was one
of the three most outstanding personalities from the
brightest eras of Hungarian history, Hungarian media report
on 27 January. The other two, according to the poll, are 15th
century ruler King Matthias Corvinus, and St. Stephen, the
king who introduced Christianity to the area in 1000. Two-
thirds of the respondents believe that Hungary will be among
the most successful nations in the next 10-20 years. The poll
was commissioned by the "image center" at the Prime
Minister's Office, which intends to spend 4.3 billion forints
($17 million) on Hungary's image this year. MSZ

BUDA CASTLE CLOSED TO NEO-NAZIS. The Young Left group has
reserved six sites in Buda Castle on 12-13 February in order
to prevent a planned neo-Nazi demonstration from taking place
there, "Nepszabadsag" reported on 27 January. Last week,
Hungarian skinheads urged their German colleagues on a
German-language website to return for a repeat of a
demonstration held last year in Budapest to commemorate the
SS troops who died in Buda Castle while fighting the Soviets.
The Young Left group plans to honor civilian victims of World
War II. MSZ

ROMANIAN PARTIES CONTINUE DEBATE ON TIMING OF ELECTIONS. The
chairman of the National Peasants' Party Christian
Democratic, Ion Diaconescu, said on 25 January that his party
wants local and general elections to be held "according to
the usual schedule," Mediafax reported. He rejected rumors in
the press that the PNT-CD intends to call for a postponement
of the elections. The statement is the latest in ongoing
discussions on the timing of the elections (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 21 January 2000). The president of the Hungarian
Democratic Union of Romania, Bela Marko, said his party
supports the idea of holding the local elections in June 2000
and the parliamentary elections in November, Rompres
reported. In other news, Romanian Foreign Ministry spokesman
Mihail Dobre on 26 January announced that Romania lost some
$900 million in 1999 as a result of last year's conflict in
Kosova, Mediafax reported. VG

APPEAL COURT REINSTATES CLUJ MAYOR. An appeals court in Cluj
reinstated Gheorghe Funar as the mayor of the city after he
was suspended pending an investigation of allegations that he
abused his position and damaged private interests (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 26 January 2000). Funar, who heads the
chauvinist Greater Romania Party, will now be able to serve
as Cluj mayor until a court rules on his indictment. VG

Capital Flight From Russia Continues

By Robert Lyle

	The global organization of commercial banks, investment
firms and insurance companies--the Institute of International
Finance (IIF)--says that capital flight from Russia continues
to be substantial and should be around $20 billion again this
year.
	The IIF says the flight of capital from Russia has been
at about that level annually for the past year or two.
	Charles Dallara, managing-director of the institute,
told reporters in Washington on 24 January that the problem
for Moscow continues to be a lack of solid reforms and stable
policies.
	"Obviously, it will be important for Russia to find some
policy framework that will stabilize and turn around that
situation at some point, but we don't have a clear sense that
that's in the cards," he said
	The director of research for the IIF, Kevin Barnes, says
there was some reduction in the amount of capital flight from
Russia in December. But he says even if that decrease
continues it will not have a major impact on the forecast of
$20 billion fleeing this year.
	Overall, says Barnes, there are a lot of uncertainties
ahead for Russia.
	"Perhaps the removal of some of the political
uncertainty that we fear through a prolonged election period
could make the situation even more difficult. That will not
happen. We are having to reevaluate a number of developments.
Russia has been helped by strong oil prices, (but is) still
very uncertain on capital flight and what will happen on the
debt picture."
	The institute says Russia's capital flight and other
problems will turn private capital flows into the country
from positive to negative this year--with money more leaving
than coming in.
	For the rest of what the IIF calls "emerging Europe"--
Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania,
Slovakia, and Turkey--the picture is very positive. Private
capital flows, which had dropped markedly during the 1998
crisis, are beginning to return and are estimated to have hit
nearly $32 billion in 1999. They should climb another $500
million this year.
	Barnes says these countries are drawing external
financing because of their progress in reforms:
	"We've seen some encouraging steps, such as in Bulgaria.
But there needs to be continued efforts in that area to work
toward the goal of convergence with the European union. In
several of those economies, we see encouraging progress, but
still more needs to be done."
	Capital flows into all of the emerging economies in the
world are expected to increase from just below $150 billion
in 1999 to nearly $200 billion this year. That all depends,
says the IIF, on a continued strong U.S. economy and no major
crises anywhere in the world this year.

Robert Lyle is a former Washington-based correspondent for
RFE/RL.

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