OMRI Daily Digest
No. 119, 20 June 1995
GONCZ REELECTED HUNGARIAN PRESIDENT. The Hungarian parliament on 19 June
elected 73-year-old Arpad Goncz to a second five-year term as president,
international media reported. Backed by the ruling socialist-liberal
coalition, Goncz won the necessary two-thirds majority, receiving 259
votes, compared with only 76 for his challenger, Ferenc Madl. Goncz is
not a member of a political party. -- Sharon Fisher , OMRI, Inc.
SLOVAK PREMIER MEETS WITH ETHNIC HUNGARIANS. Vladimir Meciar met with
the chairmen of the three Hungarian parties represented in the Slovak
parliament on 19 June, Slovak media reported. The meeting, the first
between Meciar and the Hungarian parties since 1992, focused on issues
involving the Hungarian minority in Slovakia, internal political
developments, and preparations for the ratification of the framework
agreement on the protection of minority rights and of the Slovak-
Hungarian basic treaty. Hungarian Civic Party Chairman Laszlo Nagy said
the Hungarian deputies supported the ratification of both documents,
while Meciar said he is convinced the basic treaty will be ratified
"even if no one from the opposition supports it." Areas of continued
dispute include the question of "alternative" (bilingual) education,
financing minority culture, and a draft law on state language. Meciar
argued that the language law is about the Slovak language and therefore
"interferes neither with the rights to use minority languages nor with
constitutional rights." But Hungarian Christian Democratic Movement
Chairman Bela Bugar dismissed the need for the law. -- Sharon Fisher,
OMRI, Inc.
[As of 12:00 CET]
Compiled by Jan Cleave
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A tovabbterjesztest a New York-i szekhelyu Magyar Emberi Jogok
Alapitvany tamogatja.
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Reposting is supported by Hungarian Human Rights Foundation News
and Information Service.
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Tuesday, 20 June 1995
Volume 2, Issue 118
REGIONAL NEWS
-------------
**CHINESE PREMIER ON LONELY TOUR OF EUROPE**
Beijing said relations between China and Prague have been
damaged by a meeting yesterday between Taiwanese Prime
Minister Lien Chan and his Czech counterpart Vaclav Klaus. The
Chinese embassy lodged a protest before Lien arrived in Prague
on Sunday and the Chinese ambassador to the Czech Republic
visited Deputy Czech Foreign Minister Pavel Bratinka today
shortly after the two premiers held their unofficial meeting.
Beijing claims it's the only legitimate government of all
China. Lien will leave the Czech Republic today. Lien's visit
is the highest-level trip to Europe by a Nationalist official
since the 1949 Communist victory in the Chinese civil war.
Lien also visited Austria and Hungary during his trip, which
has been shrouded in secrecy. Lien arrived in Austria last
Friday, but there's been no word of any meetings with
officials in Vienna. He visited Hungary on Saturday and
apparently didn't have any official contacts there either.
**HUNGARY'S "UNCLE ARPAD" WINS AGAIN**
Arpad Goncz will serve another five year term as President of
Hungary. Parliament elected Goncz to the largely ceremonial
post by a vote of 259 to 76 over his conservative challenger
Ferenc Madl. The big margin of victory wasn't a surprise.
Goncz has been the most popular politician in Hungary for
years. He's also a member of the liberal Alliance of Free
Democrats, the junior coalition partner in a government that
controls 72 percent of the seats in Parliament. Still, the
conservative opposition parties said it was important to
present an alternative. Madl, a former education minister,
criticized Goncz for interfering too much in day to day
politics. But Goncz stuck to non-partisan themes in his
acceptance speech, calling for a united effort to tackle the
country's economic crises.
"It derives from my head of state position that for the
fulfillment of this historic task, with all of the means of my
power, I'll do all I can to give help to the Parliament, to
the parties of the government coalition and the opposition,
and to the Hungarian republic's government."
Goncz has been involved in politics since the 1940's, when he
was a youth leader in the Smallholder's Party. He was
sentenced to life in prison for participating in the 1956
Revolution. He actually spent 6 years in jail. --David Fink
BUSINESS NEWS
-------------
**GERMAN CARS ROLL WITH HUNGARIAN HARDWARE**
German car maker Adam Opel AG said it's signed a contract with
the Viag unit VAW Aluminum for aluminum cylinder heads for
Opel's engine plant at Szentgotthard in Hungary. Opel, a
subsidiary of US car giant General Motors Corp, said VAW will
invest slightly more than $11 million in a new aluminum
smelter in Gyor, Hungary. The plant will have a capacity of
560,000 cylinder heads a year. It will also supply the Opel
components plant at Aspern near Vienna. Opel said the first
cylinder heads will be delivered at the end of the first
quarter of 1996.
ANALYSIS
--------
**HUNGARY'S UNIQUE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE**
By Nancy Marshall
The Hungarian Parliament's vote yesterday to re-elect President
Arpad Goncz to a second five-year term was no surprise. The
outcome of the election was not in doubt. But there are
questions over whether Goncz will become less of a figurehead
and start using more of the powers granted him in the
Hungarian Constitution. Gabor Halmai is a constitutional
expert and the chief counselor to the president of the
Constitutional Court, Hungary's highest judicial body.
Halmai: Goncz used some very important powers in his last term
of office. For instance, the power to send laws to the
Constitutional Court to check if they're constitutional. He
used this power, in the last 5 years, 6 times.
CET: So you're saying he used to do this under the former
government, but under the Socialist government he's not doing
this?
Halmai: Not yet.
CET: So he's not exercising that particular power because his
party is a coalition partner with the Socialists?
Halmai: I don't think that's the main cause. The main cause
is that he's had only one year with this government and had
four years with the former government.
CET: Right now Hungary's president is elected by a two-thirds
majority of parliament. Opposition political parties, the
Smallholders to be exact, tried recently to change the rules
so Hungarians could elect their president directly. Do you
think they'll ever be able to do that?
Halmai: I think that's one possibility of the future
constitutional regulations. There's a constitution making
process now, just starting. A special committee of parliament
was just elected to prepare the new text of the future
constitution. I think it's one of the alternatives to have a
president elected by the people, directly.
CET: Do you think the drafters of new Hungarian Constitution
will put in that provision of a president directly elected?
Halmai: I don't know. It's an alternative. My personal
opinion is we don't need a directly elected president in the
constitutional order we have now.
ABOUT CET ON-LINE
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A tovabbterjesztest a New York-i szekhelyu Magyar Emberi Jogok
Alapitvany tamogatja.
[*] [*] [*] [*] [*][*] [*][*][*]
[*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*]
[*][*][*] [*][*][*] [*][*] [*][*]
[*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*]
[*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*]
Reposting is supported by Hungarian Human Rights Foundation News
and Information Service.
*****************************************************************
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