RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol 2, No. 18, 18 September 1998

HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER CRITICIZES WEST. The West "sees only
itself and is still failing to understand what is going on in
Central and Eastern Europe," Prime Minister Viktor Orban said
in an interview with the German weekly "Die Woche," cited by
"Nepszabadsag" on 18 September. Orban said Western Europe's
ignorance prompted it to commit "all possible faults" in its
policies toward the wars in former Yugoslavia and the
integration of Central European countries into the EU and
NATO. Commenting on policies toward ethnic Hungarians abroad,
Orban said "our national borders are clear, but it is a fact
that Hungarians living in the Carpathian Basin are bound
together by a cultural identity. Hungarian minorities do not
represent a problem," Orban concluded, since "they have never
taken any action in favor of secession, but instead they have
formed [cultural and political] associations." MSZ

HUNGARY TAKES CUSTOMS DISPUTES WITH SLOVAKIA TO WTO. Hungary
will launch urgent proceedings against Slovakia at the World
Trade Organization, Hungary's ambassador to the WTO, Istvan
Major, told "Vilaggazdasag" on 18 September. Last week
Slovakia increased customs tariffs on Hungarian wheat imports
by 70 percent. Hungarian trade experts believe that the
Slovak decision may have been triggered by political, rather
than economic, considerations. MSZ

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