OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 54, 18 March 1997

YELTSIN VETOES TROPHY ART BILL. President Yeltsin on 18 March vetoed a
draft law that stated that artworks seized in Germany by the Soviet army
during World War II are the property of the Russian state, ITAR-TASS
reported. The controversial bill was approved by the parliament's upper
house on 5 March (see OMRI Daily Digest, 6 March 1997). In a letter to
Federation Council Chairman Yegor Stroev, Yeltsin called the bill a
"unilateral decision" made "without regard for generally accepted norms
of international law," adding that it "weakens Russian positions in
difficult negotiations now under way with France, Germany,
Liechtenstein, Poland, Hungary, the Netherlands and other countries." A
1990 friendship treaty between Moscow and Germany contained a clause on
the mutual restitution or artworks, but few have been exchanged. --
Penny Morvant

CZECH PREMIER IN HUNGARY. Visiting Czech Premier Vaclav Klaus declared
on 17 March that the Czech Republic and Hungary share identical
interests and that the two governments conduct an intense political
dialogue on integration issues, Hungarian media reported. Both Klaus and
his Hungarian counterpart Gyula Horn stressed that the two countries are
not rivals for NATO and EU membership. They also expressed satisfaction
with bilateral ties and said they plan to sign health-care and social-
policy agreements. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

ROMANIAN PRIME MINISTER STEPS BACK FROM HUNGARIAN UNIVERSITY PROMISE.
Victor Ciorbea, after promising shortly before his visit to Budapest
earlier this month to reopen the Hungarian-language Bolyai University in
Cluj, now says the final say will depend on the existing Babes-Bolyai
University's faculty senate, because universities enjoy autonomy, Radio
Bucharest reported on 17 March. Ciorbea and President Emil
Constantinescu had earlier clarified that the Hungarian university,
closed in 1958, would re-open as a Hungarian section within the unified
Babes-Bolyai university (see OMRI Daily Digest, 14 March 1997).
Ciorbea's recent statement was made at a meeting with the university's
two ethnic Romanian deputy rectors, who oppose the move and have
threatened to resign in protest. Ciorbea added that a separate,
independent Hungarian-language university could be set up elsewhere,
provided it respected relevant laws. On 18 March, Romania libera printed
a declaration of the Cluj branch chairman of Ciorbea's party, the
National Peasant Party Christian Democratic, opposing any change in the
Babes-Bolyai University status quo. -- Michael Shafir

[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Steve Kettle
Compiled by Tom Warner