RFE/RL NEWSLINE
Vol. 1, No. 2, 2 April 1997

CZECH PRESIDENT ON NATO, FRENCH PRESIDENT IN
PRAGUE. Vaclav Havel says he is opposed to a referendum on
NATO membership. Since membership is "basically a treaty
between states," it does not need to be approved in a
plebiscite, Havel told Czech TV yesterday. Havel was speaking
on the eve of a two-day visit by French President Jacques
Chirac to Prague, RFE/RL reported. The French president is
expected to express support to Prague's bid for early
membership in EU and NATO. He has already given similar
pledges to Hungary and Poland.

HAGUE JUDGES TOUR GABCIKOVO-NAGYMAROS
PROJECT. Judges from the International Court of Justice in
The Hague have begun a four-day, fact-finding tour of the
stretch of the Danube disputed in the ongoing trial over the
Gabcikovo-Nagymaros dam, a Slovak Foreign Ministry official
told RFE/RL on 1 April. The judges will inspect first the
Gabcikovo project in Slovakia and then the aborted Hungarian
side of the project at Nagymaros. The trial is due to resume in
mid-April, when the two countries will each have two days to
respond to the other's arguments. A final verdict is not
expected before the fall.

HUNGARIAN GOVERNMENT WANTS SMALLHOLDERS TO
RESPOND TO ANTI-SEMITISM CHARGE. The Coalition
Consultative Council--the top decision-making body of the two
Hungarian coalition parties--says the most important aspect of
the "Maczo controversy" is not Agnes Nagy Maczo's eventual
dismissal as deputy parliamentary speaker but the question of
whether to allow anti-Semitic tones in parliamentary debates,
the Hungarian press reports. Maczo, who is a deputy of the
Smallholders' Party, last week made remarks in the house that
many consider to have been anti-Semitic. The council wants
the Smallholders to answer the question of whether they
accept political anti-Semitism, RFE/RL reported.

HUNGARIAN PREMIER ON AGREEMENT WITH CHURCHES.
Gyula Horn says he expects a final agreement over public
financing of Churches and the ownership of former
ecclesiastical property will be reached in June, the Hungarian
press reports. Church and government representatives met
recently to discuss the issue. Horn said he firmly intended to
ensure that Churches and affiliated institutions are not
disadvantaged in any way. A preliminary agreement stipulates
that 1% of income tax revenues be allocated for this purpose.
If insufficient, the total sum will be supplemented by budget
funds.

VAN DER STOEL IN BUCHAREST. Romanian Foreign
Minister Adrian Severin says his country still needs OSCE
High Commissioner for National Minorities Max van der Stoel
for the protection of national minority rights in Romania as
well as for the protection of the Romanian national minorities'
rights in neighboring countries. Van der Stoel met with Severin
yesterday at the beginning of his three-day visit to Romania,
RFE/RL reported. Severin told Van der Stoel that the problem
of the Babes-Bolyai university in Cluj should be solved by
setting up a Romanian and a Hungarian department within
the university, rather than creating two ethnic universities.
Van der Stoel will also meet with President Emil
Constantinescu, Premier Victor Ciorbea, and leaders of the
UDMR--the Hungarian ethnic alliance.

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