RFE/RL NEWSLINE 
Vol. 1, No. 163, 19 November 1997

DOLE ON HUNGARY'S NATO ASPIRATIONS. Former U.S. majority
leader Bob Dole told Prime Minister Gyula Horn in Budapest on 18
November that the large majority that voted in favor of Hungary's
accession to NATO in the 16 November referendum will "certainly
give an impetus to the ratification of NATO expansion in the U.S.
Senate," Hungarian media reported. Horn, meanwhile, said Hungary's
economic progress is reason enough to hope his country will join the
EU in 2000 or 2001. He added it is "strange" that some West
European politicians speak of 2005 and even of 2008 as the expected
year of Hungary's entry. According to Horn, that might have a
"demoralizing effect" on Hungarian public opinion. MS

ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT REJECTS OPPOSITION MOTION ON
HUNGARIAN COUNTIES. By a vote of 183 to 97, the Chamber of
Deputies on 18 November rejected an opposition motion criticizing
government policies in the two counties in which Hungarians
constitute the majority, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. The
motion was proposed by the Party of Romanian National Unity and
supported by the Party of Social Democracy in Romania, the Greater
Romania Party, and the Alliance for Romania Party. Opposition
speakers accused the government of backing policies of "ethnic
cleansing" of ethnic Romanians in Transylvania. MS


ROMANIAN SENATE DEBATES EDUCATION LAW AMENDMENTS. The
Senate on 18 November began debating the government regulation
amending the education law. Senators from the National Peasant
Party Christian Democratic stressed their position that history and
geography must be taught in the Romanian language in all schools.
Representatives of the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania,
for their part, refrained from threatening to leave the ruling
coalition. MS

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