OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 148, 1 July 1996

CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS ISSUE APPEAL FOR NUCLEAR-FREE HUNGARY. More
than 40 Hungarian civic organizations have issued a statement
expressing concern that the country's politicians have not
dissociated themselves from a possible deployment of nuclear
weapons on Hungarian soil, Hungarian radio reported on 30 July. The
statement says that the deployment of nuclear weapons in Hungary
would be tantamount to the country becoming a potential target for
nuclear attack. Istvan Gyarmati, state secretary at the Ministry of
Defense, responded by saying it is very important to hold a
dialogue with civil organizations opposed to his government's
plans. He added that Hungary is not interested in and cannot have
partial NATO membership. "We want to be a member of NATO as soon as
possible, for that would best guarantee the country's security.
Stationing more and more nuclear weapons does not seem to be the
current tendency in Europe, just the opposite. NATO's expansion is
unlikely to change that," he commented. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Jan Cleave