RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol 2, No. 226, 23 November 1998

HUNGARIAN PREMIER MEETS WITH DZURINDA... Slovak Prime
Minister Mikulas Dzurinda and his Hungarian counterpart,
Viktor Orban, held talks on 21 November within the
framework of the Central European Initiative summit in
Zagreb, Slovak 1 Radio reported. Orban said the two
countries are at the "beginning of a new era" in
relations. He added that "NATO enlargement will really
be complete--from the political as well a historical
point of view--only if Slovakia is involved." Dzurinda
said the new Slovak government will "do its best to
improve Slovakia's image abroad." Dzurinda also met with
the premiers of Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, and
Ukraine. PB

...ENDS VISIT TO GERMANY. Orban said upon his return
from Germany the previous day that German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder avoided naming any date for Hungary's
EU accession but said "there will be no delay at all"
when Hungary is ready. Orban said in an interview with
the daily "Die Welt" that Budapest will meet EU
requirements by 2002. Former Chancellor Helmut Kohl told
Orban that "he will throw his political and moral weight
behind efforts to get Hungary admitted to the EU at the
earliest possible date." Orban also met with Wolfgang
Schaeuble, chairman of the opposition Christian
Democratic Union (CDU), and discussed possible
cooperation between Orban's Federation of Young
Democrats-Hungarian Civic Party and the CDU. Also on 20
November, Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev met with his
Hungarian counterpart, Arpad Goencz, in Budapest. Akayev
led a delegation aimed at increasing trade and bilateral
cooperation. MSZ/PB

ROMANIA ADMITS MISTAKE AT HUNGARIAN BORDER. General
Tiberiu Costache, deputy chief of staff of the Romanian
army, has acknowledged responsibility for the mistake
that caused a Romanian unit to be turned back from the
Hungarian border (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 20 November
1998), Hungarian media reported on 21 November. He
admitted that an application for a permit was submitted
to Hungarian officials only three days before the event.
MSZ


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