OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 80, 23 April 1996

HUNGARY WITHDRAWS CANDIDACY FOR TOP OSCE POST. The Hungarian Foreign
Ministry on 22 April officially withdrew its nomination of Istvan
Gyarmati--Hungary's ambassador to the OSCE--for the post of OSCE
Secretary-General after Slovakia foiled the nomination, Nepszabadsag
reported the next day. Despite the fact that Gyarmati enjoyed support
from the majority of the OSCE countries, Slovakia maintained a firm and
consistent opposition to Gyarmati's nomination. Hungarian foreign
ministry officials say that after fierce competition between Visegrad
country nominees, it is unlikely that the future OSCE head will be a
Visegrad native. (Current Secretary-General Wilhelm Hoynck's term will
expire in 45 days.) At the same time, Bratislava's move may further
aggravate already tense relations between Hungary and Slovakia.
Meanwhile, Slovak Foreign Minister Jurej Schenk told Slovak Radio on 22
April that Jan Kubis, Director of the OSCE Center for Conflict
Prevention, has been nominated for the post. -- Zsofia Szilagyi and
Sharon Fisher

KOVAC: APPENDIX NOT PART OF BASIC SLOVAK-HUNGARIAN TREATY. In an
interview with the Hungarian daily Nepszabadsag on 23 April, Slovak
President Michal Kovac said the Slovak National Council's one-sided
interpretative addendum of the Slovak-Hungarian basic treaty does not
constitute part of the treaty and therefore, will not affect contractual
relations between the two countries. Kovac said that the aim of the
addendum is to reassure those in Slovakia concerned by the Council of
Europe's Recommendation 1201, and added that the interpretation will in
no way affect the Hungarian side. He also asserted that he reserves the
right to appeal to the Constitutional Court if the constitutional rights
of ethnic minorities are curtailed as a result of the state language
law, Magyar Hirlap reported. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Deborah Michaels