RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE 30 November 1999
HUNGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN MOSCOW. Meeting with his
Hungarian counterpart, Janos Martonyi, in Moscow on 29
November, Russian Foreign Minister Ivanov stressed that
Hungary's membership in NATO "should not be an obstacle" to
developing bilateral relations, despite the fact that
Russia's stand on the alliance's eastward expansion remains
unaltered, according to ITAR-TASS. The two foreign ministers
discussed a wide range of issues, including the Chechen
conflict, which Martonyi said he hopes will be settled by
political means. With regard to Russia's outstanding debt to
Hungary of some $450 million, Moscow will make a proposal by
the end of the year on repaying that sum. Both sides also
agreed that the joint restitution commission will convene
again as soon as possible to discuss the return of art
treasures removed during World War II. That commission last
met in 1997. JC
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RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE 1 December 1999
OFFICIALS DISCUSS SUBSIDIES FOR HUNGARIAN UNIVERSITY IN
ROMANIA. Hungarian Foreign Ministry State Secretary Zsolt
Nemeth and Bela Marko, chairman of the Hungarian Democratic
Federation of Romania (UDMR), agreed in Budapest on 30
November that a 2 million forint (some $8 million) Hungarian
state subsidy for the education of ethnic Hungarians in
Romania will be used toward setting up a private Hungarian
university in Transylvania, Hungarian media reported. Marko
added, however, that the UDMR will continue to demand the
establishment of a Hungarian-language state university
financed from the Romanian budget. Hungarian Prime Minister
Viktor Orban said earlier that the 2 billion forints would be
managed by a foundation to be set up by Transylvanian
Hungarian Churches. MSZ
HUNGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ADMONISHES AMBASSADOR. Foreign
Minster Janos Martonyi told the parliament on 30 November
that he has "admonished" Geza Jeszenszky, Hungary's
ambassador in Washington, for expressing a "private opinion"
on official embassy stationery and signing it as ambassador.
Jeszenszky had strongly criticized several prominent
Hungarian Pulitzer Prize winner journalists, for which
opposition leaders demanded that he be recalled from his post
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 November 1999). Martonyi said
Jeszenszky's recall "would not be proportionate to the
mistake he had made." MSZ
HUNGER STRIKE OVER SERBIAN OIL DELIVERIES. Mayor Tomislav
Panajotovic of Pirot said that he and the town council will
soon go on a hunger strike if the central authorities do not
allow EU heating oil shipments to cross from Macedonia into
Serbia, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 30 November
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 November 1999). In Nis, Mayor
Zoran Zivkovic said he will call on citizens to "seek out the
guilty ones in Belgrade and Dedinje" (where Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic lives) if the authorities do not
allow EU oil to reach his town. In Brussels, the EU's Chris
Patten said that the Energy for Democracy program will
continue regardless of whether the Serbian authorities allow
the current oil shipment to cross the border. Elsewhere, a
shipment of heating oil bought by the city government of Novi
Sad has arrived from Hungary, Montenegrin Television reported
on 1 December. PM
EAST EUROPEAN STATES WELL REPRESENTED IN WTO
By Andrew F. Tully
Several states from Central and Eastern Europe will be
among the full members of the World Trade Organization
sending representatives to the organization's meetings in
Seattle this week.
Estonia became the 135th country in the organization
when it officially joined last month. Also among the full
members are Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary,
Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
Most of the other states from the region have observer
status and have applied for full membership. They are
Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova,
Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky recently
made the argument that countries in the region have benefited
from membership. In testimony before the U.S. Senate, she
cited the cases of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.
Attaining membership forces countries in transition from
communism to make the reforms necessary for a free-market
economy, Barshefsky argued, noting that this in turn helps to
bring about long-term growth.
But concerns have been raised in both the region's full
WTO member states and in candidate states about some of the
consequences of participation in the world trade body.
Latvia became a full member early this year, even though
farmers had raised concerns that the step would undermine
their ability to compete with agricultural imports. They
worry in part because duties on grain imports are to be cut
from 75 percent to 50 percent next year.
Others in Latvia, including makers of pharmaceuticals,
have complained that WTO membership has forced legal changes
that are too rapid. However, Latvia's timber industry is
expected to benefit from new trading terms with other WTO
states.
With Estonia also now a member, Lithuania is alone among
the Baltic States in remaining outside the WTO. Earlier this
year, then Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Vagnorius
complained that reforms demanded by the WTO did not conform
with demands made by the EU on its candidate states.
Kyrgyzstan remains the only CIS state to have won full
WTO membership, something it accomplished a year ago. Some
Western observers at the time said membership demonstrated
the country's progress in establishing the rule of law and
transparency in economic matters.
But membership has also complicated Kyrgyzstan's
relations with some of its neighbors. First Russia and then
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan imposed new tariffs.
Frederick Starr, chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus
Institute at John Hopkins University in Washington, told
RFE/RL earlier this year that he believes Moscow engineered
the tariff hikes to send a message to Bishkek. He said
Russian officials wanted to punish Kyrgyzstan for seeking
closer ties with the West while drifting away from Moscow's
economic and political control. Starr added that another
reason may have been that in going so far in meeting WTO
standards, Kyrgyzstan, as a fellow CIS member, may have
undermined Russia's hopes of winning entry on less demanding
terms.
Despite such incidents, many states from Eastern Europe
and the former Soviet Union are likely to use the meetings in
Seattle to press ahead with their efforts to win full WTO
membership. Their delegates are expected to be joined in
Seattle by thousands of anti-WTO demonstrators, who are
pressing for an end to child labor, for environmental
safeguards, and for a number of other causes.
RFE/RL asked representatives of two of the region's
observer states whether they are concerned the protests might
detract from their membership efforts.
Nijole Zambaite is minister counselor at the Lithuanian
Embassy to the U.S. She said she believes that her country's
accession will proceed "according to our merits and
negotiations. And I don't think it will be stalled by the
demonstrations."
Elmar Mamedyarov, the charge d'affaires at the
Azerbaijani Embassy in Washington, is not concerned either
that the demonstrations will interfere with the WTO's work.
In fact, he welcomes the protests: "From one point of view,
it's good because sometimes demonstrations are raising the
issues--which is also very important--and give a fresh
approach to the issues which maybe sometimes can be skipped."
Only a few states from Central and Eastern Europe are as
of yet neither full members of nor observers at the WTO. They
are Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Yugoslavia.
Among states of the Middle East, neither Iran nor Iraq
is either a member or observers. The region's full members
include Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Israel, and Kuwait.
Observers from the region include Jordan, Lebanon, Oman,
Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. All but Yemen have applied for full
membership.
The author is an RFE/RL correspondent based in Washington.
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All rights reserved.
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