RFE/RL Daily Report
                   No. 238, 19 December 1994

As previously announced, the RFE/RL Research Institute will close
at the end of December.  The RFE/RL Daily Report will cease
publication with the issue of December 23, 1994.

A daily digest, similar to the RFE/RL Daily Report, will commence
publication at the beginning of January 1995 and will be available
both electronically, via Internet, and in hard copy. It will be
published by the Open Media Research Institute in Prague--a
public-private venture sponsored by the US Board for International
Broadcasting and the Open Society Institute. Contributors to the
Daily Digest will be the OMRI staff of some 30 country
specialists. The length of the new daily digest and the extent of
coverage will be comparable to the RFE/RL Daily Report.  For more
information, write to the Open Media Research Institute, Motokov
Building, Na Strzi 63, 14062 Prague 4, the Czech Republic, tel.
0042-2-6114-2114; fax 0042-2-426-396.
> -------------------------------------------------------------


NATO DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL IN HUNGARY. At the invitation of the
Lajos Batthyany Foundation, NATO Deputy Secretary-General Gerhard
von Moltke on 16 December spoke in Budapest about the role of
Central Eastern Europe and NATO, MTI reports. Moltke stressed that
major steps had been taken over the past five years toward a more
democratic and united Europe, but he warned that the interim
period seemed to be lasting longer than expected. The NATO
deputy-secretary said the concept of security had also changed in
recent years. Admission as a NATO member depended not only on the
political makeup of a country but also on its social, economic,
demographic, and environmental structures. Moltke stressed that in
order to continue to be a major security factor in Europe, NATO
must remain effective and trustworthy. He also said a reformed and
democratic Russia must actively participate in the Partnership for
Peace program. -- Judith Pataki, RFE/RL, Inc.

ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT ATTACKS HDFR DECLARATION. In a statement
issued on 16 December and carried by Radio Bucharest the same day,
the Romanian government said a declaration adopted by the Council
of Representatives of the Hungarian Democratic Federation of
Romania on 10 December was to be rejected as expressing
"anti-nationalist positions" which insult both Romania's history
and its people. According to the 16 December statement, the HDFR
had said that in Romania, the "idea of the national state has been
resurrected from the dustbin of history." The government also said
the HDFR's repeated demands for autonomy and self-determination
for the Hungarian minority contradicted the "most elementary ideas
of a state based on the rule of law and of democracy." It said
these were "extremist manifestations, wrapped-up in demagogy and
combined with complaints addressed to the highest European
forums." The HDFR said in response that its declaration had been
mistranslated into Romanian and that the Romanian government was
exploiting a mistake of which it was well aware in order to
encourage bad feelings toward the Hungarian minority and the HDFR.
-- Michael Shafir, RFE/RL, Inc.

[As of 1200 CET] 

(Compiled by Jan Cleave and Pete Baumgartner)
Copyright 1994, RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.

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N  E  W  S  L  E  T  T  E  R

Republic of Hungary                             Budapest, 1394 . 423
Ministry of Foreign Affairs                     Telephone:36(1)156-8000
Press Department                                        Telefax: 36(1) 156-3801
554/1994.                                       Budapest, December 16, 1994


Foreign Minister on the Merger of Embassies and Trade Offices

        
        Budapest, December 15 (MTI) - The Hungarian government plans to
establish an integrated system of representation offices abroad and end
overlaps in the work of embassies and trade offices, Hungarian Foreign
Minister Laszlo Kovacs said in Parliament today. The minister answered a
question put by Andras Kelemen (Hungarian Democratic Forum), former
state secretary of foreign affairs.

        The Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Trade and Industry have
agreed to transform trade offices into embassy commercial departments.
They worked out a joint proposal for closing or merging some embassies
and trade offices, and for cost and staff cuts. The units which stay open will
take over their tasks.

        The Ministry of Industry has closed a trade office, suspended the
operation of another and announced closure of seven next year. The Foreign
Ministry plans to close nine embassies and open three next year. Since the
government has not yet decided which, the minister did not name embassies
and trade offices concerned.

Parliament Amends Tax Laws

        
        Budapest, December 15 (MTI) - In Parliament today, Finance Minister
Laszlo Bekesi summed up deputies' contributions to the debate on
amending the laws on general value-added tax, consumption tax, consumer
subsidies, and the order of taxation.

        The cabinet agreed with the majority of the 70 proposed amendments
made by the deputies, the minister said.

        The amendments are meant to guarantee the strict implementation of
the three laws and strengthen their across-the-board nature.

        "Central revenues will be increased through the broadening of the tax
base rather than through tax rises," Bekesi said.

Parliament Dedicates Law to Memory of 1944 National Assembly


        Budapest, December 15 (MTI) - Parliament on Thursday approved a
law dedicated to the memory of the Provisional National Assembly formed in
Debrecen, an east Hungarian city just liberated from Nazi occupation, on
December 21, 1944. Simultaneously, MPs overruled law XI/1954 which had
commemorated the same assembly.

        The bill was submitted by Speaker Zoltan Gal.

        Gyorgy Szabad, keynote speaker of the Hungarian Democratic Forum,
said the formation of the Provisional National Assembly showed that the
Hungarian nation, deprived as it was of sovereignty, could voice its desire
for peace, independence and the rule of law.

        Istvan Orosz, the keynote speaker of the Hungarian Socialist Party,
appreciated the laws and decrees passed by the national assembly,
especially the electoral law that created the basis of democratic elections in
1945.

        Sandor Gyorivanyi of the Independent Smallholders' Party said the
epochal significance of the 1945 land reform was indisputable.

        Laszlo Varga of the Christian Democratic People's Party said, "the
Provisional National Assembly declared that the Hungarian people had not
wanted the war and no horrific events would have come about in the country
if it had not been invaded by Nazi German occupiers. The formation of the
National Assembly marked the start of the building of an independent, free,
and democratic Hungary. Although this process was blocked by Soviet
occupation, in 1956 the Hungarian people pursued the same goals."

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RFE/RL DAILY REPORT
                   NO. 239, 20 DECEMBER 1994

As previously announced, the RFE/RL Research Institute will close
at the end of December. The RFE/RL Daily Report will cease
publication with the issue of December 23, 1994.

A daily digest, similar to the RFE/RL Daily Report, will commence
publication at the beginning of January 1995 and will be available
both electronically, via Internet, and in hard copy. It will be
published by the Open Media Research Institute in Prague--a
public-private venture sponsored by the US Board for International
Broadcasting and the Open Society Institute. Contributors to the
Daily Digest will be the OMRI staff of some 30 country
specialists. The length of the new daily digest and the extent of
coverage will be comparable to the RFE/RL Daily Report. For more
information, contact the Open Media Research Institute, Motokov
Building, Na Strzi 63, 14062 Prague 4, the Czech Republic, tel.
0042-2-6114-2114, fax 0042-2-426-396, or send an e-mail to
.


HUNGARIAN PREMIER IN GERMANY. Gyula Horn on 18 December met with
Bavarian head of state Edmund Stoiber and German Chancellor
Helmuth Kohl, German media reported the same day. According to the
Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Hungary will receive a DM 200 million credit
from Bavaria, Baden-Wurtenberg, and Bonn. The money will be spent
on economic projects such as the construction of a highway system,
the privatization of radio and television, and the expansion of
the telecommunications system. Both Horn and Stoiber agreed that
Hungary is an "open field" for Bavarian industry, although there
are already more than 1,000 Bavarian joint ventures in the
country. Judith Pataki, RFE/RL, Inc.

ROMANIAN EXTREME NATIONALISTS URGE CRACKDOWN AGAINST HUNGARIAN
MINORITY. The Party of Romanian National Unity, a member of the
ruling coalition, asked President Ion Iliescu and the parliament
to crack down on alleged anti-Romanian actions by the Hungarian
minority and the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania.
RFE/RL's correspondent in Bucharest reported on 19 December that a
statement released by the PRNU called on the parliament to pass
weapon control regulations immediately, claiming that many
citizens, especially ethnic Hungarians, have illegally bought guns
and ammunition abroad. The statement also demands that the
financial courts investigate how the HDFR spends its share of the
state funds allocated to all political parties. It says the HDFR
used its share in 1994 for "actions directed against the Romanian
nation." The PRNU also urges that Romanian parliamentary
delegations visiting foreign countries no longer include HDFR
representatives, pointing out that two years ago all Hungarian
deputies swore loyalty to Hungary. Michael Shafir, RFE/RL, Inc.

[As of 12:00 CET]

(Compiled by Jan Cleave and Penny Morvant)
Copyright 1994, RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Expand NATO Now

  HENRY KISSINGER
  
  (C) 1994 THE WASHINGTON POST (LEGI-SLATE ARTICLE NO. 218897)

    The   level  of bitter recrimination over Bosnia within the Atlantic
Alliance is unparalleled since the Suez crisis of nearly four decades ago.
Only this time there is no unifying threat to impose a sense of urgency to
the quest for unity.

    At their periodic meetings, foreign ministers invoke the old verities
while avoiding the new realities brought about by the end of the Cold War and
the unification of Germany.
    A good place to begin a reassessment would be to recognize that the
Bosnian debacle was due to conceptual failures within each of the allied
governments rather than to the structure of an alliance that was never
designed to deal with ethnic conflicts on its periphery. Otherwise, the
Western democracies would have thought twice before recognizing a Bosnian
state within borders reflecting none of the ethnic, linguistic or historic
unities traditionally identified with nationhood. What made these statesmen
think - if indeed they were thinking - that Croats, Serbs and Muslims, whose
mutual hatred had caused the breakup of Yugoslavia, would be able to coexist
in a unitary state in much smaller Bosnia?
    Unable to define the challenge, the allies could hardly deal with it
adequately, either individually or collectively. Was the Bosnian conflict a
civil war or was it aggression on the model of the fascist assaults of the
'30s and of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait? The Bush administration and our
European allies treated it as a civil conflict of no relevance to
international stability. Prepared to ease suffering and, in the case of the
Europeans, even to send troops, they recoiled before the sacrifices connected
with imposing a settlement.
    The new Clinton administration affirmed moral outrage without, however,
being willing to commit forces. Starting from opposite ends of the spectrum,
neither Europe nor America ever reconciled its objectives with a willingness
to run commensurate risks.
    What the Bosnian failure demonstrates is not so much the failure of the
alliance as the penalty of evasion. It poses above all these questions: Is
the alliance still important? And, if the answer is affirmative, will it be
able to generate common purposes even in the absence of a strategic threat?
    The oft-invoked "new world order" will only emerge, if at all, at the end
of a period of instability that is its birth pang. That process is made the
more difficult because all the major players in it are essentially flying
blind. America has never been part of an international order that it could
neither dominate nor withdraw from. The European nation state can no longer
deal with contemporary crises by itself, and the European Union is only at
the beginning of extracting a common policy from nations that have, through
most of their history, aimed their strategies at each other. Russia must
adjust to borders it transcended three centuries ago. China, growing at an
awesome rate, has never been engaged in world politics. Japan is redefining
its national mission. And most of the emerging players - Korea, Indonesia,
Brazil and India to name only a few - are just embarking on the major
international roles likely to be their destiny.
    A vital Atlantic Alliance could play a crucial role in the resolution of
the attendant crises provided it is able to focus on its common necessities,
as it previously did on common fears. If the enlargement of democracy is to
have any operational meaning, it must begin with the Atlantic Alliance, which
unites the oldest functioning democracies with genuinely pluralistic systems
and economies based on the market.

 In the end, the nations of the Atlantic area need each other. Without
America, Europe turns into a peninsula at the tip of Eurasia, unable to find
equilibrium much less unity and at risk of gradually subsiding into a role
similar to that of ancient Greece in relation to Rome - the only outstanding
question being whether America or Russia will play the role of Rome. Without
Europe, America will become an island off the shores of Eurasia, condemned to
a kind of pure balance-of-power politics that does not reflect its national
genius. Without Europe, America's path will be lonely; without America,
Europe's role will approach irrelevance. This is why America concluded twice
in this century that the domination of Eurasia by a hegemonic power threatens
its vital interests, and has gone to war to prevent it.
    Some Europeans advocate European union as a device to render America
dispensable. In fact, a major American role in Europe is a prerequisite for
European coherence. Without it, the European Union would founder on the fear
of German domination; France would see reinsurance in a Russian option;
historic European coalitions would form, compounding their traditional
tenuousness with irrelevance; Germany would be tempted into a nationalist
role, Russia into revanchism.
    An American presence in Europe provides a measure of equilibrium. It
gives France a safety net against German hegemony and Germany an emotional
harbor as European unification slows down, as well as protection against
outside dangers and excessive European nationalism. Even Russia has much to
gain from an American presence, which is one of the best guarantees against
the reemergence of historical European rivalries.
    Europe by itself cannot handle the two most dangerous Russian
contingencies: resurgence of nationalism or implosion. A Russia facing a
divided Europe would find the temptation to fill the vacuum irresistible. An
America cut off from Europe would lose an anchor of its foreign policy.

 There are   new threats as well. While technically a subject outside NATO
competence, Muslim fundamentalism, were it to dominate North Africa, would
pose a grave challenge to Western security. Nor is it necessary to define
every threat in detail in order to wish to preserve the Atlantic system of
regular consultation; and the existing infrastructure provides a vital,
perhaps indispensable, resource for this period of transition.
    Until recently,   the Clinton administration has been hesitant to give
Atlantic relations the traditional priority. Many of its key members, having
formed their political convictions during the Vietnam protests, viewed the
Cold War as unnecessary and its institutions as potentially dangerous.
Treating NATO as a relic of the Cold War, they preferred to rely on Russian
goodwill as the key to international order rather than on the historic
alliance.
    The administration's new emphasis on Atlantic cooperation is welcome. It
needs to take account of a number of principles:
     The crisis in the Atlantic Alliance can be solved only by opening a
dialogue on fundamentals; previous American vacillations complicate the
ability to restore confidence. But the task is not insuperable since, despite
all controversies, the current NATO leaders all have a long record of
friendship with the United States and, even in France, understand the need
for a continued American role in Europe.
   The structure of American-European relations needs to be modified. With
the military threat receding and the risk of political crises growing, the
political role of the Atlantic Alliance should be given greater emphasis.
   The most sensitive immediate issue is NATO expansion, which the
administration courageously put before the recent NATO ministerial meeting.
But it must take care lest, in seeking to please every constituency and
respond to every pressure, it winds up in the same deadend as Bosnia.
    The expansion issue arose because Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia
and Hungary (the Visigrad countries) -all victims of Soviet occupation -
sought NATO membership. If this request is rejected and the states bordering
Germany are refused protection, Germany will sooner or later seek to achieve
its security by national efforts, encountering on the way a Russia pursuing
the same policy from its own side. A vacuum between Germany and Russia
threatens not only NATO cohesion but the very existence of NATO as a
meaningful institution. NATO cannot long survive if the borders it protects
are not threatened while it refuses to protect the borders of adjoining
countries that do feel threatened.

 The new   American proposal calls for an exploration of NATO expansion with
each member of the Partnership for Peace, which is composed of all NATO
members, the former Soviet satellite orbit and all the successor states of
the Soviet Union, some 40 altogether. If this is anything other than an
opening gambit, it will lead either to stalemate or to confrontation. Russia
will either veto expansion or approve it only if Russia itself becomes a
member. In that case, NATO would stop being a defensive alliance and turn
into a system of general collective security similar to the United Nations.
   Russian membership in NATO would dissolve the Atlantic Alliance into just
such a vague system without meeting the security concerns of Europe,
especially of Eastern Europe, or of America. It would remove NATO as a shield
of Western Europe because the NATO obligation does not run to protecting its
members against each other. Instead, it would place NATO's frontiers at the
borders of China. This is why Russian membership in NATO and in the European
Union was standard Soviet fare in Communist times.
    Having started down the road of NATO expansion, the administration must
choose between the concept of the NATO alliance, based on defining an area to
be protected, and the concept behind the Partnership for Peace, designed - by
President Clinton's own statements - to unite the former blocs. NATO is not
the instrument to serve both purposes. Nor can the decision wait until an
acute Russian threat in fact appears. Pressures against NATO expansion will
grow more insistent at that point, compounded by the fact that a skillful
Russian challenge will be made to appear ambiguous. It is not wise to defer
obtaining fire insurance until the house is actually on fire.
    Of course, Russia must be given every opportunity for a truly cooperative
relationship. But not at the cost of tempting Russian expansionism by
removing the obstacles to it. Even the presumably reformist Yeltsin
government has insisted on an assertive superpower role by throwing its
weight around.


 NATO expansion   represents a balancing of two conflicting considerations:
the fear of alienating Russia against the danger of creating a vacuum in
Central Europe between Germany and Russia. A wise policy, instead of
pretending that Russia has an option for NATO membership, would take two
steps. It would proceed with membership for the Visigrad countries and reject
a Russian veto. But at the same time, it would propose a security treaty
between the new NATO and Russia to make clear that the goal is cooperation.
Such a treaty would provide that no foreign troops be stationed on the
territory of new NATO members, on the model of the arrangement for East
Germany (or, better, no closer than a fixed distance from the eastern border
of Poland).
    At the same time, such a treaty could provide for consultation between
NATO and Russia on matters of common interest. In such a structure, there
would be no reason for Russian security concerns. Going beyond it would grant
Russia a right to create a vacuum around its borders, preserving the options
of historical Russian expansionism.
    Failure   to expand NATO in the near future is likely to prove
irrevocable. Russian opposition is bound to grow as its economy gains
strength; the nations of Central Europe may drift out of their association
with Europe. The end result would be the vacuum between Germany and Russia
that has tempted so many previous conflicts. When NATO recoils from defining
the only limits that make strategic sense, it is opting for progressive
irrelevance.

    1994, Los Angeles Times Syndicate

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N  E  W  S  L  E  T  T  E  R

Republic of Hungary                             Budapest, 1394 . 423
Ministry of Foreign Affairs                     Telephone:36(1)156-8000
Press Department                                        Telefax: 36(1) 156-3801
555/1994.                                       Budapest, December 19, 1994

Hungarian Press Review

        Budapest, December 16 (MTI) - Nepszabadsag - On Monday,
Hungarian Prime Minister Gyula Horn asked his ministers to ensure that the
extra month's salary, which is guaranteed by law, be paid to those
employees who fall under their jurisdiction by December 20th. Finance
Minister Laszlo Bekesi told the paper the Finance Ministry is still considering
which ministries it should aid in order to ensure these payments can be
made before Christmas. (page 1)

        - Nepszabadsag - The situation of Hungarian farmers is expected to
improve next year as producer prices will rise and the government will
reduce deductions, says Gyula Meszaros, director of the Hungarian
Chamber of Agriculture. Meszaros describes the abolition of the land tax as
being a step in this direction. (page 16)

        - Magyar Nemzet - "I agree with Finance Minister Laszlo Bekesi's
restrictive economic policy because financial stability is of vital importance
to Hungary", well-known Hungarian industrialist Peter Zwack, chairman of
the Liberal Civic Alliance - Entrepreneurs' Party, is quoted as saying. He also
says he is willing to mediate, if asked, between the Hungarian government
and foreign business circles, and also between the Hungarian government
and the opposition parties. (page 8)


Hungarian-Belgian Talks - Kovacs-Onkelinx Meeting

        Budapest, December 16 (MTI) - Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs held
talks here today with Madame Laurette Onkelinx, prime minister of the
French Community, in Belgium. She is here on an unofficial visit.

        Kovacs informed his guest about the foreign policy priorities of the
Hungarian government, especially with regard to preparations for European
Union membership, and asked her to support Hungary's objectives.

        Both parties emphasized the role the French regions in Belgium,
which enjoy considerable economic, cultural and educational autonomy,
have played in promoting Hungarian-Belgian cooperation.
        
        Kovacs stressed that Hungary would like to elevate the present health
and cultural links with the French Community in Belgium to a higher level.
        
        Hungary considers the wide-ranging autonomy, the lingual and
cultural identity of the national communities of Belgium to be a model.
Cooperation with such regions and communities can complement the ties
existing with the federal government.

        Madame Onkelinx also had talks with the Minister of Public Welfare
Pal Kovacs and Minister of Culture Gabor Fodor.


CEFTA Members of Parliament Meet in Budapest

        Budapest, December 16 (MTI) - Central European nations have to
strengthen their cooperation if they want to join European integration.
However, this cooperation can be no alternative to membership in the
European Union, reads a press communique issued after the two-day
Budapest conference of MPs from member countries of the Central
European Free Trade Association (CEFTA).

        The meeting was attended by parliamentary deputies responsible for
European integration affairs from Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. Observers
from Slovenia were also present. The Czech parliament greeted the
conference in a letter as its members were unable to come due to the budget
debate currently taking place in the Prague legislature.

        It was stated at the conference that the European agreements
continue to form the basis of relations with the EU, which need to be
improved so that they can aid the preparations for full membership.

        Associate EU members would have to modify these agreements in
such a way that the present preferences remain intact even after the GATT
agreement comes into force, and the three CEFTA countries join the Union.

        The PHARE scheme also needs to be streamlined, the politicians
stated. Viktor Orban, chairman of Hungarian Parliament's Committee for
European Integration Affairs, told reporters that only 15 per cent of current
PHARE funds can be used for investment purposes, adding that in his
opinion this figure should be higher.

        Regarding NATO membership, the forum stated that at present NATO
can be regarded as the sole effective body of collective security on the
continent, and the NATO membership of Central European countries is
closely linked with their entry into the EU. Piotr Nowina- Konopka, deputy
chairman of the Polish European Convention Committee and deputy
chairman of the EU-Poland Joint Parliamentary Committee, believed that
despite Russian concerns, the Central European countries have to decide
for themselves on the question of joining NATO. The sooner this happens,
the more stable the European situation will be, he added.
        
        Participants expressed the hope that the EU would also conclude an
association agreement with Slovenia soon.


Conference on Austrian-Hungarian Links

        
        Budapest, December 16 (MTI) - Budapest today was host to a
scientific conference dealing with relations between Hungary and Austria.

        Austrian Ambassador to Hungary Erich Kussbach pointed out that
their common future leads both countries into the European Union, and the
main adversary to this single Europe is extreme nationalism.

        Hungarian Minister of Education and Culture Gabor Fodor said that
the two countries and their environment have a multicultural nature, and the
tragic Yugoslav crisis partly shows that oppression and bloodshed are no
answer to multiculturism. It may be dangerous if cultural, religious and
ethnic diversity are ignored, he added.

* * *

        Budapest, December 16 (MTI) - Addressing the conference, Austrian
Vice-Chancellor Erhard Busek said, "With the demolition of the Iron Curtain,
the natural geographical setting has been restored in Europe." He said it
should be made clear in the European Union that Hungary's entry into the
organization is also a security policy matter.

        Istvan Szent-Ivanyi, parliamentary State Secretary at the Hungarian
Foreign Ministry, welcomed Austria's new security policy orientation and
deemed Austria a corridor for Hungary towards the European defence
alliance.

        In his closing speech, President Arpad Goncz emphasized that the
process of Hungary's joining the Union is irreversible. "While today we
celebrate as national heroes those people who at the time led the countries"
independence movements, in 30 years the same recognition will be due to
those who are now working for Hungary's place in European integration,"
Goncz said.




Press Review

        Budapest, December 17 (MTI) - Nepszabadsag: Exemplary
Neighbourly Ties

        Hungarian-Croatian relations are marked by exemplary neighbourly
ties, said Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic in an interview carried by
Nepszabadsag. He said Hungary had displayed great understanding for both
Croatian and ethnic Hungarian refugees from Baranya and Eastern Slavonia.
The Hungarians supported us during the war, and this provides a good basis
for close neighbourly ties. The goals of Croatia and Hungary are identical,
and there are no problems with the ethnic minorities. Hungary is entitled to
have a vested interest in being granted greater preference in use of the port
of Riyeka, and we are ready to grant that, said the minister in Zagreb prior to
his visit to Hungary.

        Magyar Hirlap - New Front-line in politics

        Leading Free Democrat politicians are describing the National
Confederation of Hungarian Trade Unions in over simplistic and unjust
terms when they regard it as the ultra left wing of the Hungarian Socialist
Party. It is downright shocking that by pointing their fingers at trade union
officials they want to create a state of emergency: look, this is how the old
communists are returning to Hungarian politics - said Sandor Nagy in an
interview with Magyar Hirlap. The president of the National Confederation of
Hungarian Trade Unions, head of the budgetary working group in the
parliamentary factions of the Hungarian Socialist Party, said the Alliance of
Free Democrats seeks to play an excessive role in the governing coalition,
something that is not justified by their election results.


Prime Minister Horn Urges Reform of Public Administration

        Budapest, December 17 (MTI) - Prime Minister Gyula Horn said in an
interview on Hungarian Radio's 16 Hours weekly news magazine today in
connection with needs raised by domestic and international financial
institutions that "next year we should at last start reforming the sphere of
public administration and public service employees, but this does not mean
that people will have to be discharged by the tens or hundreds of
thousands."

        "In 1994 and 1995 the staff at ministries and institutions affiliated t
o
the ministries are expected to decrease by about 3,000 on the basis of
compilations put together by the ministries," he said.

        As regards the recent rail and iron workers' strikes, the prime ministe
r
stressed the importance of preserving socio-economic peace. "The reserves
have been exhausted, but on each issue concrete positions will be made
public and a solution is being sought."

        Prime Minister Horn objected to remarks criticizing the socialist
partner made by the coalition partner before the public, noting that the Free
Democrats have often ignored the post-electoral balance of power in
Parliament, laying greater emphasis on their own views and do not always
support the socialists in managing unpopular questions.
        
        Finally the prime minister described the recent local elections as
successful from the point of view of ordinary citizens.

        He noted that the government"s work would be assessed in January
and "if consequences have to be drawn as regards personnel issues, we
shall of course do that." He noted that recent speculations regarding
personnel changes published in the press lacked any ground.


Government Issues Decree on 1995 Immigration Permits

        
        Budapest, December 18 (MTI) - The government, meeting here on
Sunday, enacted a decree on the number of immigration permits and the
sphere of beneficiaries in 1995, the spokesperson's bureau reported.

        The act passed last year on the entry of foreigners, their residence in
,
and immigration to, Hungary, authorizes the government to regulate this
area.

        A government decree issued to implement the provision of the law
stipulates that new proposals are necessary to be issued on the general
number of permits.

        Proceeding from the geographical position of Hungary, the state of
international migration and the social and political changes and war events
now under way in Hungary's immediate neighbourhood, the decree issues
2,000 immigration permits for 1995 - by taking into consideration the past
experiences and facts.

        The decree lists among the cases of beneficiaries within the general
number of permits those foreigners who enjoy temporary shelter in Hungary,
and those who were recognized as refugees earlier. The latter can only be
taken into consideration when granting a beneficiary status if the status of
refugees ceases because the terms of being declared refugee no longer
prevail.


Government Approves Bill on Amending Some Penal Regulations

        Budapest, December 18 (MTI) - The government met here today and
accepted a bill on amending some penal regulations which it will duly submit
to Parliament.

        The New York Convention on the Rights of the Child regarding
Hungary went into effect on October 7, 1991.

        Hungary's penal measures relating to juvenile delinquents basically
meet the provisions specified in the Convention. On the other hand some
legal provisions and shortcomings manifest in practice hamper the
implementation of requirements formulated in the Convention.

        The bill accepted by the Government seeks to amend the provisions
of the penal code, the act on criminal proceedings and the law on the
carrying out of punishment pertaining to juvenile delinquents.

        In case the changes are accepted, prison terms can be meted out to
minors only in exceptional cases, only in the ultimate case if the purpose of
punishment cannot be attained in any other way. Therefore the duration of
probation will be increased, education at reformatory schools will be
determined for a specific period, allowing for the inclusion of the time of
remand.

        Among the amendments one should stress the possibility of
postponing accusation, which the prosecutor - in a certain sphere of the acts
of crime - could resort to provided that it helps the education of juvenile
delinquents in the right direction. It is also an important measure of the bill
that remands ordered against minors can be carried out in reformatory
schools as well.

Hungary Issues Decree on Promulgating No Visa Hungary-Singapore
Accord

        Budapest, December 18 (MTI) - The Hungarian government, holding a
meeting here today, issued a decree on promulgating the Hungarian-
Singapore agreement on the mutual abolition of visas.

        The agreement was reached on the strength of an exchange of notes,
guaranteeing full exemption of visas for the citizens of both countries.
Exceptions to the rule are provided by cases of immigration, job taking and
travels for the purpose of other income generating activities.

        Residence without visa can last a maximum 14 days in general, but it
can be extended.

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A tovabbterjesztest a New York-i szekhelyu Magyar Emberi Jogok
Alapitvany tamogatja.

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