OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 244, 19 December 1996

ROMANIANS PROTEST APPOINTMENT OF ETHNIC HUNGARIAN PREFECTS. The
leaderships of the Democratic Convention of Romania and the Democratic
Party-National Salvation Front in Harghita county have protested against
the appointment of an ethnic Hungarian to the post of county prefect,
Radio Bucharest reported on 18 December. Ethnic Hungarians form the
majority of the county's residents. The decision to appoint three
members of the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR) as
prefects was reached as a result of discussions among the new governing
coalition parties. UDMR Senator Attila Verestoy told RFE/RL that based
on its strength in parliament, the UDMR was entitled to five prefects
but has agreed to have only three. Adevarul reported that President Emil
Constantinescu and Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea promised ethnic
Romanian members of parliament that they would "be on guard" against
"infringements of the constitution and the country's laws"-an allusion
to the UDMR program that calls for "local, territorial, and personal
autonomy." * Michael Shafir


[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Victor Gomez