Augusztus 4-en, holnap, elutazok es bo ket hetig tavol leszek.
Ez ido alatt nem fogom tudni a VoA es a Szabad Europa Radio
hireit tovabbitani, de ahogy hazaerkezek jelentkezem.
Viszlat :-)
       Buchwald Amy

****************************************************************


             RFE/RL Daily Report
                                 No. 146, 3 August 1994


CANDIDATE LISTS PREPARED FOR SLOVAK ELECTIONS. On 2 August the
Slovak Interior Ministry provided TASR with a list of candidates
set to run in the parliamentary elections scheduled for 30
September and 1 October. The parties had until midnight on 1
August to submit the lists. In Bratislava and Eastern Slovakia 20
parties will compete, and in Western and Central Slovakia 19 will
participate. Registered parties include the Common Choice (a
coalition of the Party of the Democratic Left, the Social
Democratic Party of Slovakia, the Green Party and the Movement of
Peasants), the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia-Agricultural
Party coalition, the Christian Democratic Movement, the
Democratic Union of Slovakia, the Democratic Party, the Slovak
National Party, the Association of Workers of Slovakia, the
Romany Civic Initiative, a coalition of three ethnic Hungarian
parties, the Christian Social Union and New Slovakia, among
others. In the last parliamentary elections held in June 1992, 27
Slovak parties participated.  Sharon Fisher, RFE/RL, Inc.

INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL ORGANIZATIONS WARN HUNGARY. Week-long
discussions between World Bank and International Monetary Fund
officials and Hungarian government and Hungarian National Bank
(HNB) representatives ended on 1 August, MTI reports. The WB and
IMF said that as a result of its large current balance of payment
and state budget deficits, Hungary had reached the limits of its
economic possibilities. Preparations for a three-year financing
plan to support the Horn government's program could not be
started before "radical and very drastic" corrective economic
measures were undertaken. They proposed to reduce this year's BoP
deficit (which stood at $1.2 billion at the end of April) to $2
billion, and to $1.5 billion in 1995 and not to allow the state
budget deficit, which is expected to reach 8%-9% of Hungary's
GDP, to exceed 3%.  Alfred Reisch, RFE/RL, Inc.

CONCERN OVER HUNGARY'S GRAVE ECONOMIC SITUATION. According to
Finance Minister Laszlo Bekesi, the WB/IMF assessment is similar
to that of the Hungarian government but the latter feels it
cannot achieve such large-scale improvements soon. Thus it
expects the BoP deficit to reach $2 to $2.5 billion in 1995 and
the state budget deficit, presently at 184 billion forint ($1=101
forint) to reach 300 billion (or more if not streamlined) by the
end of this year. Right now, the government does not know how to
finance next year's budget and will discuss on 4 August a finance
ministry proposal for heavier consumer taxes on fuels and
consumer goods starting 1 October. On 2 August the HNB announced
that because it spent more on debt servicing than it took in new
credits, Hungary's net foreign debt rose by $900 million in the
first four months of 1994 and stood at $16.8 billion, while the
gross debt reached $25.6 billion.  Alfred Reisch, RFE/RL, Inc.

HUNGARY'S SLOVAK MINORITY CONSULTED. Csaba Tabajdi, in charge of
minority affairs in the prime minister's office, on 1 August
discussed the Hungarian-Slovak bilateral treaty with the leaders
of Hungary's Slovak minority, MTI reported. He said his
government did not want to link the issue of Hungary's Slovak
minority with that of the Magyar minority in Slovakia while the
Slovak minority leaders said they expected the treaty to slow
down the assimilation of Hungary's 110,000 Slovaks and provide
more aid for educational purposes. Tabajdi also discussed the
treaty with Erzsebet Borza, vice chairman of Slovakia's
Democratic Party of the Left and an ethnic Hungarian. They agreed
that the signing of the document was an important
confidence-building factor and had to guarantee both the
inviolability of the two countries' borders and the rights of
national minorities as defined by existing international
documents and recommendations.  Alfred Reisch , RFE/RL, Inc.

CRIMES AGAINST PUBLIC ORDER ON THE RISE IN HUNGARY. Although the
total number of criminal offenses in Hungary in the first half of
1994 fell by 6.2% to 197,261, the number of crimes against public
order amounted within that figure to 22,595, a 93.8% jump
compared to the first half of 1993. Violent crimes and acts of
disorderly conduct rose by 8% to 13,124, MTI reported on 29 July.
Alfred Reisch, RFE/RL, Inc.

CLUJ DIGGING BEGINS. The controversial archaeological diggings in
the main square of Cluj were started on 2 August, local media and
Reuters reported on the same day. Policemen were stationed near
King Mathias' statue, but were later withdrawn since there was no
repeat of the scuffles that took place there last month,
preventing the start of the excavations. Following the scuffles,
the government suspended the diggings and appointed a commission
to investigate the matter. The commission said some prospecting
that would not endanger the monuments in the square could be
carried out. The leadership of the Hungarian Democratic
Federation of Romania reacted by saying again that the diggings
were illegal because they had not been approved by the local
council of Cluj, as well as being "provocative" and
anti-Hungarian. The HDFR said it would seek international support
to protect monuments of Hungarian culture.  Michael Shafir,
RFE/RL, Inc.


  [As of 1200 CET]

  Compiled by Saulius Girnius and Dan Ionescu
Copyright 1994, RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.