RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE 15 March 2000

HUNGARIANS DEMONSTRATE FOR INDEPENDENT MEDIA. Some 6,000
demonstrators marched across Budapest on 14 March to demand
an independent supervisory board for the broadcast media.
The demonstration was organized by the Socialist Party,
trade unions, and NGOs; representatives of other opposition
parties also took part. The government has come under
criticism both at home and abroad for a recent
parliamentary vote that established supervisory boards
comprising only government-nominated members. The leading
coalition party, FIDESZ, blames the opposition parties for
the situation, saying they failed to propose their own
candidates to the boards. FIDESZ parliamentary deputy
Szilard Sasvari said his group will propose a new system
for electing the supervisory boards if the governing
parties cannot reach an agreement with the opposition at a
meeting scheduled for 16 March, Hungarian Radio reported.
VG

HUNGARY URGES ROMANIA TO CLOSE DANGEROUS PLANTS. Hungarian
government spokesman Gabor Borokai said on 14 March that
Budapest has asked Romania to identify plants that may pose
a threat to the environment and "not delay" in closing them
down. Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi told the cabinet he
personally delivered the message to Romania's ambassador in
Budapest. The Hungarian Environment Ministry has noted that
the authorities managed to protect the Tisza Lake from a
spill of heavy metals into the Tisza River (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 13 March 2000). Meanwhile, Hungarian water
management authorities were put on alert again after
receiving reports on 14 March from Ukrainian authorities of
another pollution spill on the northeastern reach of the
Tisza River. Hungarian authorities were unable to receive
confirmation from Romanian officials that another spill has
occurred. VG
  
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