OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 12, 17 January 1997

FRENCH PRESIDENT WANTS HUNGARY TO JOIN EU IN 2000. Jacques Chirac on 16
January said that France supports Hungary's joining the European Union
as early as 2000 and its application to join NATO, international media
reported. He added that "France will do everything possible to realize
this goal." Chirac was addressing the Hungarian legislature at the start
of his two-day visit to Budapest. Later, Chirac conferred on Hungarian
President Arpad Goncz and 12 other veterans of the 1956 uprising the
Grand Cross of the Legion d'Honneur. Goncz honored Chirac with the Grand
Cross of the Medal of Merit of the Republic of Hungary. The same day,
the Hungarian Supreme Court handed down its first verdicts in the trials
of those who helped put down the 1956 uprising. Three people have been
sentenced to four to five years in jail for their involvement in the
massacre of 46 protesters in the northern town of Salgotarjan in
December 1956, more than a month after the revolution was over. --
Zsofia Szilagyi

NEW ROMANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER ON NATO INTEGRATION. Victor Babiuc on 16
January excluded the possibility of Romania not joining NATO, Radio
Bucharest reported. Babiuc said "Romania should be admitted in the first
wave and by all means alongside Hungary." According to Reuters, he also
mentioned plans to privatize the country's weapons industry in order to
bring its military structures in line with NATO standards. Such plans
would depend largely on foreign investors, he added. In related news,
Romanian Foreign Minister Adrian Severin has responded to a statement by
his Hungarian counterpart, Laszlo Kovacs, saying that the change of
power in Romania facilitates Hungary's entry into NATO. Severin
emphasized that the two countries should join the alliance
simultaneously, pointing out that the September 1996 bilateral treaty
calls for mutual support in the countries' bid for NATO, EU, and WEU
integration. -- Zsolt Mato


[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Jan Cleave