RFE/RL NEWSLINE 
Vol. 1, No. 114, 10 September1997

HUNGARY CRITICIZES SLOVAK PROPOSAL ON MINORITY EXCHANGES.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs told the parliament on 9
HUNGARY CRITICIZES SLOVAK PROPOSAL ON MINORITY EXCHANGES.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs told the parliament on 9
September that a Slovak proposal for ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia
to resettle in Hungary violates a friendship treaty between the two
countries. Kovacs said he will do his best to bring international
pressure on Slovak Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar to abandon the
idea. Meciar told a rally of his ruling Movement for a Democratic
Slovakia on 4 September that he had proposed Hungary accept any
ethnic Hungarians who do not want to live in Slovakia. Slovak
authorities have denied that Meciar made the proposal during talks
with Hungarian Prime Minister Gyula Horn, but Horn says he did.
There are some 500,000 ethnic Hungarians living in Slovakia.

HUNGARIAN SCREENING PANEL URGES FINANCE MINISTER TO
RESIGN. The panel examining the communist past of senior officials
has called on Peter Medgyessy to resign within 30 days, Hungarian
media reported on 10 September. The panel said that in his capacity
as deputy prime minister between December 1987 and May 1990,
Medgyessy had access to secret files, which, it argued, is
as deputy prime minister between December 1987 and May 1990,
Medgyessy had access to secret files, which, it argued, is
incompatible with his present position. Medgyessy has refused to
resign, saying that in the last communist government, he dealt only
with economic issues and did not use secret files made available to
him.

VOJVODINA CROATS DEMAND NEW ELECTION RULES. Leaders of the
Democratic League of Vojvodina Croats said in Subotica on 9
September that their party insists on guaranteed representation for
Serbia's ethnic minorities in the new parliament slated to be elected
on 21 September. The ethnic Croatian leaders charged that the
Serbia's ethnic minorities in the new parliament slated to be elected
on 21 September. The ethnic Croatian leaders charged that the
current electoral districts have been set up to the detriment of ethnic
minorities and that Croats are split up among six different districts.
Vojvodina has been a mosaic of various Central European peoples
since the Habsburg era. But Croats, Hungarians, Slovaks, and others
have often accused the Serbian authorities over the past 10 years of
discrimination against minorities.

ROMANIAN BANK HOLDS TALKS WITH ABN AMRO. The vice
president of the private Banca Comerciala "Ion Tiriac" said
negotiations are under way to sell the institution to Bank of The
Netherlands, Bloomberg Financial News reported on 9 September.
Serban Bobulescu said he expects final negotiations to be concluded
in October. The bank was founded by Ion Tiriac, a former Romanian
tennis player and coach, who now owns a 31 percent stake. The
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development holds another 20
percent. Tanno Massar, a spokesman for ABN Amro, refused to
comment directly but said the Dutch bank is working to further
percent. Tanno Massar, a spokesman for ABN Amro, refused to
comment directly but said the Dutch bank is working to further
develop its network and improve its position "either by autonomous
growth or by acquisitions." ABN Amro has branches in the Czech
Republic, Poland, Hungary, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.

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