OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 180,  17 September 1996


CONTROVERSY OVER HUNGARY'S DRAFT CONSTITUTION. The six-party agreement
within the Hungarian parliament's constitution committee that has
facilitated the drafting of a new constitution may be breaking down,
Nepszabadsag reported on 17 September. Deputies from the opposition
Christian Democratic Party are threatening to boycott constitution
committee sessions unless their demands for a plebiscite on the basic
rules of the constitution are accepted. Socialist Party deputy Mihaly
Bihari told Nepszabadsag that the Christian Democrats' stand can only be
interpreted as a putsch against the six-party agreement on
constitutional reform. Although the draft constitution has been amended
frequently since 1989, Hungary is still working with the 1949
constitution set up by the communist regime. -- Petronella Gaal and Ben
Slay

ROMANIA, HUNGARY SIGN HISTORIC TREATY. The Romanian and Hungarian prime
ministers, Nicolae Vacaroiu and Gyula Horn, on 16 September signed a
basic bilateral treaty that is aimed at controlling the two countries'
historic rivalry over the province of Transylvania, local and Western
media reported. The document was signed in the western Romanian town of
Timisoara, the cradle of the December 1989 revolt that marked the end of
the Communist regime in Romania. Romanian President Ion Iliescu, as well
as the foreign ministers and political leaders from both countries,
attended the ceremony. Romania's two main ultra-nationalist parties, the
Party of Romanian National Unity (PUNR) and the Greater Romania Party,
boycotted the event. PUNR leader Gheorghe Funar, who is also mayor of
Cluj, proclaimed 16 September a "day of mourning" there. -- Dan Ionescu

INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE TO HUNGARIAN-ROMANIAN TREATY. The United States
on 16 September congratulated the Romanian and Hungarian governments for
their signing of the basic treaty on that day, Reuters reported.
According to State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns, the treaty
"demonstrates the commitment of Hungary and Romania to rejoin the
Western community of democratic nations and is consistent with the
purposes of NATO enlargement." The treaty drew a cooler response from
Moscow, AFP reported on 17 September. Although a Foreign Ministry
statement did offer some words of praise, it also said: "Russia's
attitude to enlargement of NATO eastward is well known in Hungary and
Romania, as is the belief that our relations would only gain if this
attitude were taken more fully into account." -- Ben Slay

[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Susan Caskie