RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 216, 9 November 1998
UKRAINE ASKS FOR UN, EU HELP TO FLOOD VICTIMS. Foreign
Minister Borys Tarasyuk has sent letters to the UN and EU
asking for humanitarian help to victims of the floods in
Ukraine's Transcarpathian region, dpa reported on 8 November.
Heavy rains have caused five mountain rivers to inundate some
120 settlements in Zakarpatska Oblast, forcing some 25,000
people to leave their homes. The Ukrainian government has
provided $600,000 for rescue efforts, while neighboring
Hungary donated $250,000 to help the flooded area. JM
HUNGARY REJECTS EXTENSION OF EU ADMISSION DATE. Hungarian
Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi told reporters in Stockholm
that there is no reason to amend his country's "ambitious,
but not unrealistic expectations" that it will be granted EU
membership in 2002. Martonyi said "competent officials of the
European Commission do not speak about major delays in
membership," adding that Hungary will firmly argue its own
goals regarding enlargement. The foreign minister was
responding to a statement by German Parliamentary Assembly
member Otto Graf Lambsdorff that Hungary's admission may be
delayed until 2005. MSZ
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RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol 2, No. 217, 10 November 1998
GREEK PREMIER SAYS POLAND'S EU ASPIRATIONS NOT
THREATENED BY CYPRUS'S BID. Greek Prime Minister
Constantine Simitis said in Warsaw on 9 November that
Poland's integration into the EU will not be threatened
by Cyprus's bid to join the union at the same time, AP
reported. Greece wants Cyprus to join the EU
simultaneously with the East European candidate
countries. Poland supports this idea but says it should
not be a condition for its own entry into the EU. On 10
November, the EU opens membership negotiations in
Brussels with Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary,
Slovenia, Estonia, and Cyprus. JM
HUNGARY SEEKS TO SETTLE PAYMENTS FOR EXPORTS TO RUSSIA.
Russia does not intend to sign an inter-governmental
barter agreement with Hungary, because 70 percent of its
foreign-currency revenues come from energy exports,
Peter Balas, deputy state secretary at the Hungarian
Economics Ministry, said on 9 November in Moscow after
meeting with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir
Bulgak. The two officials were seeking to resolve
problems related to Russian payments for Hungarian
exports. The two sides signed an agreement to set up a
joint team of experts whose primary aim will be to
prevent an increase in Russia's $500 million state debts
to Hungary. MSZ
CLUJ UNIVERSITY SHUTS DOORS ON GOVERNMENT COMMISSION
MEMBERS... Gyorgy Tokay, minister in charge of minority
issues, says the acting rector of Cluj University,
Mircea Muthu, prevented members of the government
commission examining the possibility of setting up a
Hungarian-language university from entering his
university's premises on 7 November, Mediafax reported
two days later. Muthu responded that the commission's
members "did not submit a written request" to conduct a
meeting in the rector's office and that there has been
an "alarmingly large telephone bill" for that office. MS
...AS STUDENTS PROTEST PLANS TO SET UP 'MULTICULTURAL'
UNIVERSITY. On 9 November, students in Bucharest joined
a protest strike by their colleagues in several other
towns. That action began several days earlier. Most of
the demands are related to poor conditions and a lack of
funds, but the students are also demanding that the
government revoke the decision to set up a Hungarian-
German "multicultural" university. MS
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