RFE/RL NEWSLINE
Vol. 1, No. 26, 7 May 1997

HUNGARIAN CABINET PROPOSES CONSTITUTIONAL
AMENDMENTS ON REFERENDA. The government
yesterday proposed amending the constitution to double
the number of signatures needed for a referendum from
100,000 to 200,000, Hungarian media reported. But only
100,000 signatures would suffice if the initiative were
approved by the parliament. A referendum could. also take
place if proposed either by the president, the government,
or one-third of deputies and then approved by the
parliament. Referenda on obligations resulting from
international treaties, the dissolution of parliament, and
the government's program would be banned under the
proposed amendments.

CRACKDOWN ON ORGANIZED CRIME IN HUNGARY. Prime
Minister Gyula Horn and Interior Minister Gabor Kuncze say
police are currently investigating some 150 mostly
fictitious companies and some 200 individuals, Hungarian
media reported. They told journalists yesterday that it is
hoped the operation will be a turning point in the struggle
against organized crime. Horn added that some members of
the police and the customs office are suspected of links to
organized crime and that the "necessary measures" have
been taken against them.

CROATIA'S TUDJMAN CALLS FOR DEMILITARIZED
FRONTIER. President Franjo Tudjman says he wants the
border area between Croatia, Hungary, and federal
Yugoslavia demilitarized, an RFE/RL correspondent
reported from Zagreb. Tudjman was speaking yesterday in
Zagreb with Jacques Klein, the UN's top administrator in
eastern Slavonia. Tudjman also noted that the Croatian
Constitution permits dual citizenship and that he favors an
agreement with Belgrade on cross-border traffic. Klein had
earlier called for demilitarizing the border and for other
confidence-building measures. Belgrade and Croatian Serb
leaders seek dual Croatian and Yugoslav citizenship for
Croatian Serbs. But Croatian officials have not endorsed
the idea, pointing out that Yugoslavia does not grant its
ethnic Croats or Albanians the right to dual citizenship.

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1997 RFE/RL, Inc.
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE
Vol 1, No. 27, 9 May 1997

SLOVAK OPPOSITION LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN FOR NATO
MEMBERSHIP, DIRECT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS. Eight
opposition parties on 7 May launched a campaign to
convince voters that they should support Slovak
membership in NATO and direct presidential elections in
the 23-24 May referendum. The eight parties argue that the
referendum will offer Slovaks the chance to show they
want to remain part of an "advanced and democratic
Europe." "We are seeking to strengthen a free society and
to reject an authoritarian establishment," a joint statement
said. The bloc comprises the Slovak Social Democratic
Party, the Christian Democratic Movement, the Democratic
Party, the Democratic Union, the Greens, and the ethnic
Hungarian parties. The opposition post-communist
Democratic Left Party declined to join the campaign.

HUNGARY'S SOCIALISTS LIFT CONSTITUTIONAL
AGREEMENT. The Socialist Party's (MSzP) parliamentary
faction says it no longer considers valid a long-standing
agreement with the opposition stipulating that
constitutional amendments need the backing of at least
five parliamentary parties, Hungarian media reported
today. Deputy faction leader Laszlo Toller said the
agreement has ceased to exist because the opposition is
unwilling to agree to a compromise on proposed
amendments on judicial reform, the status of refugees,
referenda, and government appointments. The opposition
parties have protested, saying lifting the agreement is a
"serious unilateral" step.

THE PROBLEMATIC UKRAINIAN-ROMANIAN BASIC
TREATY

by Michael Shafir

        Predictably, the Ukrainian-Romanian basic treaty and
its annexes have been almost unanimously welcomed in
Kyiv but have met with opposition from many quarters in
Bucharest. The reason for this is simple. Initialed on 3 May
in Kyiv by Foreign Ministers Hennadii Udovenko and Adrian
Severin, the treaty puts an end to Romanian hopes that a
condemnation of the 1939 Ribbentrop-Molotov pact could
be squeezed out of Kyiv. The secret appendix to that
document paved the way for the 1940 annexation by the
Soviet Union of territories that today are part of either
Ukraine or the independent Moldovan Republic.
        Since 1993, when unofficial talks began on the basic
treaty, Kyiv had made clear it would never accept any
clause or formulation that questioned its current borders.
In April of that year, former Ukrainian President Leonid
Kravchuk told Adrian Nastase, then chairman of the
Romanian Chamber of Deputies, that Ukraine was ready to
discuss "anything but its human rights policies or questions
related to its current borders." Kravchuk's successor,
Leonid Kuchma, adhered to the same line on the border
issue but was somewhat more amenable on "human rights."
        As a result, Ukraine agreed to include in the treaty a
large section that includes many references to the rights of
the national minorities in either country. References are
made to international legislation on minority rights and
even to Recommendation 1201 of the Council of Europe's
Parliamentary Assembly. In view of these developments,
Severin's position that the treaty is "a compromise" is
largely accurate.
        Ironically, in reaching agreement with Kyiv over the
basic treaty, Romania found itself in the same position as
Hungary when Budapest concluded a bilateral treaty with
Romania in September 1996. The Hungarian daily
Nepszabadsag pointed out on 7 May that Budapest last year
and Bucharest last week agreed to the recognition of
"border inviolability" as enshrined in the Helsinki Final Act
because they both want to be accepted into an enlarged
NATO. The U.S. had made clear to Budapest that its chances
of NATO admission would be virtually nil if Hungary's
inclusion meant that border conflicts were imported into
the alliance. Consequently, Budapest agreed to recognize
the Hungarian-Romanian border as inviolable in exchange
for mention of Recommendation 1201 in the bilateral
treaty. Now, with an eye directed toward the NATO Madrid
summit this summer, Bucharest has agreed to recognize
the inviolability of its border with Ukraine in exchange for
major concessions on minority rights.
        As was to be expected, the two extreme nationalist
parties in Romania's parliament denounced the
renunciation of what Romanians view as their historical
territories of northern Bukovina and southern Bessarabia.
The Greater Romania Party called the treaty an "act of
treason," while the Party of Romanian National Unity
demanded a referendum on the document. But, as Severin
has pointed out, the Party of Social Democracy in Romania's
(PDSR) response was "less than genuine." The PDSR, the
former ruling party and now the main opposition
formation, wants the Soviet-Nazi pact to be denounced in
the treaty's annexes. But in 1990, Ion Iliescu, the former
president and the current PDSR leader, had been ready to
sign a treaty with the Soviet Union that made no mention of
the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact. Gorbachev's Moscow was
doubtless more legitimate an "inheritor" of the Soviet legacy
than is Kuchma's Kyiv.
        By no means are all problems between the two
countries resolved in the treaty. But in the annexes to the
treaty (scheduled to be exchanged in the form of letters
when the accord is signed), the two sides did agree to
continue negotiations on demarcating the continental shelf
around Serpents Island in the Black Sea, which was
annexed by the Soviet Union in 1946 and is now a military
fortress. The shelf surrounding the island is believed to be
rich in oil reserves. While not agreeing to return the island,
Ukraine pledged to deploy no "offensive weapons" on it and
agreed to consider it "uninhabited," which, under
international maritime legislation, means that Kyiv cannot
claim an exclusive economic zone around it. The two sides
agreed to take the issue to the Hague International Court of
Justice if they fail to reach a compromise within two years.
        Finally, although Ukraine did not give into Romania's
demands that the joint border on the Chilia branch of the
Danube River delta be moved to the middle of the river--in
accordance with international practice--Kyiv did agreed to
allow free navigation of Romanian vessels on that branch of
the river.

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               Copyright (c) 1997 RFE/RL, Inc.
                     All rights reserved.
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