RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE  12 July 1999

SLOVAK PARLIAMENT APPROVES MINORITY LANGUAGE LAW. The
parliament on 10 July approved the government bill on
the use of minority languages in contacts with the
authorities, CTK reported. The vote was 70 to 18 with
one abstention. The Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK)
voted against the bill, while the opposition Movement
for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) and the Slovak
National Party boycotted the ballot. SMK parliamentary
group chairman Gyula Bardos said his party will have
to "re-evaluate" its further participation in the
ruling coalition. The SMK wanted the bill to be
extended to culture, education, the media, and the
courts. It also wanted the law to permit the use of
minority languages in contacts with the authorities in
localities where minorities make up 10 percent of the
population, rather than 20 percent, as stipulated by
the approved bill. MS

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RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE 13 July 1999

EUROPEAN COMMISSION WELCOMES SLOVAK MINORITY LANGUAGE
LAW. European Commission spokesman Nico Wegter told
journalists on 12 July that the commission welcomes
the law on the use of ethnic minority languages in
contacts with the authorities, which the Slovak
parliament passed on 10 July. Wegter said he will not
comment on the content of the law, adding that the
commission's experts must first study it. He also
refused to comment on why the Hungarian Coalition
Party did not support the bill in the parliament, CTK
reported. MS

COHEN URGES MORE DEFENSE SPENDING IN HUNGARY. U.S.
Defense Secretary William Cohen said in Budapest on 12
July that his country expects Hungary to honor its
commitments resulting from NATO membership, which
include increasing defense spending to 1.81 percent of
GDP. Prime Minister Viktor Orban told Cohen that the
issue of Vojvodina should be included in a special and
separate chapter of a Balkan stability pact. Cohen noted
that "ethnic hatred similar to that experienced in
Kosova has no roots in Vojvodina." He added that the
province "could become an outstanding example of non-
violent assertion of minority interests." MSZ

HUNGARY CRITICIZES SLOVAK LANGUAGE LAW. Foreign Ministry
State Secretary Zsolt Nemeth on 12 July said that
Slovakia's recently adopted minority language law (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 12 July 1999) will hinder the
development of Hungarian-Slovak relations, Hungarian
media reported. He said the law is unacceptable to
Slovakia's Hungarian Coalition Party. Nemeth added that
he trusts the Slovak cabinet will find a way to make
"appropriate corrections" that will meet the provisions
of the Hungarian-Slovak basic treaty as well as European
norms. MSZ

LANDSLIDES, FLOODS CLAIM VICTIMS IN ROMANIA, HUNGARY. At
least 13 people were killed and 23 injured in a
landslide caused by heavy rain and floods near a dam on
the Raul Mare River in the Retezat mountains in western
Romania. Romanian Radio reported on 13 July that one
person drowned in Cluj County. Prime Minister Radu
Vasile met with cabinet members to examine ways of
helping victims and coordinating rescue works. Heavy
rains are expected to continue in western Romania.
Reuters reported that at least six people were killed as
the result of landslides caused by floods in Hungary.
Three persons were buried in a wine cellar in Siklos,
south of Budapest, and three drowned in Heves County, in
northwestern Hungary. In Bulgaria, floods caused heavy
damage in two villages near the town of Montana, north
of Sofia. MS

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               Copyright (c) 1999 RFE/RL, Inc.
                     All rights reserved.
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