OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 246, 20 December 1995

SLOVAKIA'S RATIFICATION OF TREATY WITH HUNGARY DELAYED AGAIN? Prime
Minister Vladimir Meciar, speaking on Slovak TV on 19 December, noted
that a sufficient number of deputies may vote for the ratification of
the Slovak-Hungarian treaty, which was to be discussed in the parliament
the following day. Meciar said he considers it "more realistic" that the
parliament will delay ratification and vote on the treaty later,
together with a special interpretation clause. Meciar had recently said
the treaty would be approved in December (see OMRI Daily Digest, 18
December 1995). The delay is a result of increasing tension within the
coalition, with Meciar's two coalition partners as well as deputies
within his own party criticizing the treaty. -- Sharon Fisher

SLOVAK ROUNDUP. The parliament on 19 December passed the 1996 budgets
for the state health and social insurance companies and the National
Property Fund, approving 1 billion koruny of the latter's budget to help
boost housing construction, Sme reported. The Constitutional Court the
same day discussed the government's cancellation of the coupon
privatization program and was expected to announce its ruling the
following day. In other news, the ethnic Hungarian Coexistence movement
plans to sue Slovak TV (STV) for its repeat broadcast of a documentary
the evening before the expected ratification of the Slovak-Hungarian
treaty, Pravda reported on 20 December. The documentary, entitled
"Bloody Christmas," deals with Hungary's occupation of southern Slovakia
during World War II. -- Sharon Fisher

HUNGARIAN PARLIAMENT ALLOCATES PRIVATIZATION REVENUES FOR DEBT PAYMENT.
The Hungarian parliament, ignoring a request by Prime Minister Gyula
Horn, on 19 December approved an amendment to the draft budget
stipulating that all surplus privatization revenues be used to partly
repay the $33 billion state debt, Hungarian newspapers reported. Most
Socialist deputies voted against the proposal, while the Free Democrats
and opposition parties supported it. Horn had asked the Socialist Party
caucus to give the government time to discuss the matter and had
suggested the revenues be spent on job creation programs. The same day,
the parliament approved a bill defining the structure, duties, and basic
principles of the country's five secret services. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

IFOR TO ESTABLISH AIR BASE IN BUDAPEST. Col. John Martinson of the U.S.
Embassy in Budapest on 19 December said IFOR troops will set up a second
air base at Budapest's Ferihegy airport owing to bad weather in Taszar,
southern Hungary, Hungarian media reported. Defense Ministry official
Gabor Nagy said IFOR headquarters asked the Hungarian government last
weekend to allow military planes to land at Ferihegy. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Jan Cleave