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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol 2, No. 44, 5 March 1998


HUNGARIANS OPPOSE AGREEMENT ON DANUBE DAM. According to a Gallup poll,
opposition among Hungarians to building a dam on the River Danube has grown
over the past month from 48 percent to 62 percent, "Magyar Nemzet" reported
on 4 March. Some 49 percent of Budapest residents believe that Slovak
interests are served by the protocol signed last week in Bratislava, while
only 15 percent say the agreement serves Hungarian interests. MSZ

YUGOSLAVIA'S NEIGHBORS WORRIED ABOUT KOSOVO DEVELOPMENTS. Hungarian Foreign
Ministry spokesman Gabor Horvath said on 4 March that Budapest "condemns
the use of force by any side and advocates a peaceful solution and a
long-term settlement" of the conflict in Kosovo. He said respect for
"human, civil, and minority rights," including those of the Hungarian
minority in Vojvodina, must be part of such a settlement. Bulgarian Foreign
Ministry spokesman Radko Vlaikov said Sofia opposes "any form of terrorism
by either side and any pretensions to separatism or a change of existing
borders." Vlaikov said Albanian Foreign Minister Paskal Milo had told  his
Bulgarian counterpart, Nadezhda Mihailova, that his country is ready to
endorse the Bulgarian proposal for a joint Balkan declaration on Kosovo.
Romanian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anda Filip said Bucharest is "deeply
worried" and opposes "violence against the use of democratic freedoms" and
"terrorist actions as a means to promote political aims." MS/MSZ

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol 2, No. 45, 6 March 1998

POLISH FOREIGN MINISTER, PRESIDENT ADDRESS SEJM. Bronislaw Geremek said on
5 March during his annual address to the parliament that Warsaw seeks good
relations with Russia and Ukraine and wants to help Belarus out of its
"self-isolation," an RFE/RL correspondent in Warsaw reported. Speaking
after Geremek, President Aleksander Kwasniewski said that all parties in
Poland supported the country's two major foreign-policy goals: entry into
NATO and the European Union. Geremek said that although he has noticed
"some realism" in Russian foreign policy, he said it is "poor" with regard
to Moscow's "approach to Eastern Europe." Geremek said he also wanted to
intensify cooperation between Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. PB

SLOVAKIA, HUNGARY DISAGREE OVER DAM DISPUTE DEADLINE. Slovak Prime Minister
Vladimir Meciar said on national television on 4  March that Bratislava
will turn to the International Court of Justice if the Hungarian government
does not approve by 25 March the draft framework agreement on the Danube
hydropower plant. The next day,  the Hungarian government announced it will
sign the agreement only after studies of the possible effects of the
project are completed, sometime before the end of the year. Hungarian
Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs said it is unlikely that Slovakia will turn
to the court again or that the court will agree to re-examine the dispute,
given that Hungary remains ready to negotiate. MSZ

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