RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 93, 18 May 1998

HUNGARY'S MAJOR PARTIES CONCERNED ABOUT FAR-RIGHT GAINS. The
ruling Socialist Party (MSZP) and its main center-right
challenger, the Federation of Young Democrats-Hungarian
Civic Party (FIDESZ-MPP), have reassured the Jewish
community that they will not let the gains of the extreme-
right Hungarian Justice and Life Party (MIEP) threaten
Hungary's democratic progress. MSZP executive deputy
chairwoman Magda Kovacsne Kosa told Peter Feldmajer, the
president of the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities,
that her party will do its best to ensure that all can live
in peace and security in Hungary. Feldmajer said that FIDESZ
has stressed that under no circumstances would it "accept
the MIEP's support" in a new government. MSZ

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RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 94, 19 May 1998

SLOVAKIA ACCUSES HUNGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER OF INTERFERENCE.
The Slovak Foreign Ministry rejected on 18 May Hungarian
Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs's warning three days earlier
that a proposed amendment to the Slovak education law would
violated the Hungarian-Slovak basic treaty. The amendment
would require that history and geography be taught in Slovak
in Hungarian-language schools. The Slovak statement called
Kovacs's protest "an inadmissible interference in domestic
affairs." Kovacs reacted by saying that minority issues
"cannot be a domestic affair for any country," Hungarian
media reported. MSZ

HUNGARIAN ELECTIONS WILL NOT CHANGE NATO MEMBERSHIP PLANS.
U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Franklin Kramer on 18 May
told Hungarian officials in Budapest that the results of the
second round of elections will in no way affect Hungary's
plans to join NATO. He said that regardless of the
composition of the new government, Hungary's referendum last
year on NATO membership clearly showed the country's support
for accession. In other news, prices on the Budapest stock
exchange fell again on 18 May amid political uncertainty
over the result of the elections. The market closed at 7,829
points, 309 points down from the weekend. Prime Minister
Gyula Horn pointed out last week that falling prices on the
bourse signals "investors are afraid of instability." MSZ

FUNAR PROMISES MORE MEMORIAL PLAQUES. The extreme
nationalist mayor of Cluj, Gheorghe Funar, said on 15 May
that he has "postponed" unveiling the controversial memorial
plaque that claims Hungarian national poet Sandor Petofi was
a Serb forced to "Magyarize" his name. Funar said he
postponed the unveiling of the plaque after the prefect of
Cluj had ordered police to prevent the anti-Hungarian
"provocation." The mayor said the plaque, which is to be
hung on a house where Petofi stayed from 21-24 June 1847,
will nonetheless be unveiled. He also promised that by the
end of this year, he will hang another 10 memorial
inscriptions on buildings in Cluj, including one on the
town's Roman Catholic cathedral, an important landmark of
Hungary's historical presence there. MS

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RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 95, 20 May 1998

LEADERS OF HUNGARY'S MAIN PARTIES RECEIVE THREATS. Socialist
Party chairman Gyula Horn and Federation of Young Democrats-
Hungarian Civic Party (FIDESZ-MPP) leader Viktor Orban have
both received threats ahead of their public debate scheduled
for 21 May. That debate is the first of its kind before an
election in Hungary. The two leaders have received threats
that their participation in the debate "will be prevented,"
Hungarian media reported. Other politicians have also
received threats in recent weeks, and increased public
security has become a major issue in the election campaigns
of all political parties against the background of bomb
attacks on private businesses and political party offices as
well as a number of assassinations earlier this year. MSZ


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