OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 246, 30 December 1996
HUNGARIAN, ROMANIAN FOREIGN MINISTERS AGREE TO RE-OPEN CONSULATES.
Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs and his Romanian counterpart, Adrian
Severin, agreed in Budapest on 27 December to reopen the Hungarian
Consulate-General in Cluj and the Romanian Consulate in Debrecen,
Hungarian media reported. Honorary consular offices are also to be
opened in Gyor and Constanta. The agreement comes in the wake of the
signing this fall of the Hungarian-Romanian basic treaty. During a visit
to the Romanian-language school in the southeastern Hungarian town of
Gyula on 28 December, Severin said that it would be preferable for
Romania and Hungary to be admitted into NATO simultaneously. But he
added that if one joined before the other, this would be reason to
promote the other's membership from within the organization. Severin
also met with Hungarian President Arpad Goncz, Prime Minister Gyula
Horn, and opposition politicians. It was his first visit abroad as
foreign minister. -- Ben Slay
ROMANIAN PRESIDENT PARDONS ETHNIC HUNGARIAN. Emil Constantinescu on 26
December pardoned Pal Cseresznyes, an ethnic Hungarian who was sentenced
to 10 years in prison following inter-ethnic riots in Targu Mures in
March 1990, RFE/RL reported. The move was seen as a conciliatory gesture
timed to coincide with Foreign Minister Adrian Severin's visit to
Hungary, which began on the same day. It was also regarded as a gesture
toward the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR), a member
of the ruling coalition. Gyorgy Frunda, who was the UDMR presidential
candidate in the November elections and also Cseresznyes's lawyer,
repeatedly noted that only ethnic Hungarians and Roma were sentenced
after the riots. Romanians escaped punishment, he stressed. -- Michael
Shafir
[As of 12:00 CET]
Compiled by Jan Cleave
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OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 247, 31 December 1996
CONTROVERSY OVER ANOTHER HUNGARIAN TV NOMINATION. Hungarian TV (MTV)
President Istvan Petak has criticized Prime Minister Gyula Horn's
nomination of Tibor Thurzo as MTV vice president, Hungarian media
reported on 31 December. According to Magyar Hirlap the previous day,
Horn, who is also leader of the Socialist Party, cleared Thurzo's
nomination with Deputy Prime Minister Gabor Kuncze of the Free
Democratic Party, the Socialists' coalition partner. But both Petak and
Free Democrat media expert Peter Molnar object to the nomination, noting
that Hungary's media law does not allow the government to interfere in
the selection of MTV executives. Molnar called Thurzo's nomination a
"bad joke" and said the Free Democrats had not been consulted about it.
Laszlo Hovanyecz resigned as MTV vice president earlier this month after
only three days on the job, saying his independence was under threat. --
Ben Slay
[As of 12:00 CET]
Compiled by Jan Cleave
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