RFE/RL Daily Report
                   No. 185, 28 September 1994

HUNGARIAN PREMIER PAINTS BLEAK ECONOMIC PICTURE. Addressing the
new parliament, Gyula Horn of the Hungarian Socialist Party
sharply criticized the record of the previous, right-of-center
government, MTI reported on 27 September. In the last four years,
3 million people became poor and Hungary lost its comparative
advantage vis-a-vis other Eastern European countries, Horn said.
He also revealed that the heads of the IMF and the World Bank
wrote to him describing Hungary's budget deficit as "critical."
Horn also castigated the previous government's privatization and
agricultural policy. Opposition party members criticized Horn's
speech as meaningless rhetoric and pointed out that he failed to
mention the communist legacy, which the previous government
inherited in 1990. -- Karoly Okolicsanyi, RFE/RL Inc.

GEORGE SOROS RECEIVES HUNGARIAN STATE HONORS. President Arpad
Goncz awarded the Hungarian-born US financier and philanthropist
the medal of the Hungarian Republic, MTI reported on 27 September.
The award was proposed by Prime Minister Gyula Horn, who was also
present at the ceremony. Soros received the award for his efforts
to modernize Hungary in the fields of science, culture, education,
and health care. -- Karoly Okolicsanyi, RFE/RL Inc.

[As of 1200 CET]

(Compiled by Eileen Downing and Jan Cleave)
Copyright 1994, RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.

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A tovabbterjesztest a New York-i szekhelyu Magyar Emberi Jogok
Alapitvany tamogatja.

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