OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 133, 11 July 1996

OFFICIALS DISCUSS NATO EXPANSION. Government officials and journalists
from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Slovenia,
Austria, Finland, NATO, the U.S., Great Britain, Germany, and France met
to discuss the future of European security and NATO enlargement on 10
July. The conference, held near Prague, was organized by the Foundation
for International Studies and the Bohemiae Foundation. Czech, Hungarian,
Slovenian, and Polish officials reiterated their desire to join NATO as
soon as possible, saying they hoped NATO would formally approve
enlargment in December. They dismissed Russian objections, saying
expansion is not directed against Russia, but rather is part of a
broader process of European integration. All participants wanted to
build a "strategic partnership" with Russia in parallel with NATO
enlargement, but some worried that Moscow's position could make it
difficult to achieve both goals simultaneously. -- Scott Parrish

SLOVAK-HUNGARIAN RELATIONS FALTER. The Slovak cabinet on 10 July accused
Budapest of violating the bilateral treaty and of trying to destabilize
the region, Slovak media reported. At issue is a communique released
after a conference on Hungarian minorities that requests autonomy for
Hungarians in neighboring countries. Foreign Ministry State Secretary
Jozef Sestak summoned Hungarian ambassador to Slovakia, Jeno Boros, to
explain the conference's "motives and conclusions" and Hungary's views
on the further development of bilateral relations. Meanwhile, Hungarian
Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs met in Budapest with Slovak Ambassador
Eva Mitrova, who presented the Slovak government's official stance.
Kovacs said ethnic-based territorial autonomy was out of the question
and denied the communique violated the bilateral treaty. Kovacs said the
government's program declaration supports the autonomy aspirations of
ethnic Hungarians beyond the border in accordance with Western European
norms, and he rejected the view that ethnic autonomy automatically leads
to separatism, Hungarian media reported. -- Sharon Fisher and Zsofia
Szilagyi

[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Maura Griffin Solovar