OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 131, 9 July 1996

HUNGARIAN MINORITY SUMMIT UPSETS SLOVAK AND ROMANIAN LEADERS. Slovak and
Romanian government officials on 8 July expressed anger about the
outcome of an ethnic Hungarian minority summit in Budapest, Hungarian
media reported. Representatives of the Hungarian government, all
parliamentary parties, and 11 ethnic Hungarian organizations from
neighboring countries called for establishing local governments and
autonomy in line with Western European practices. Romanian President Ion
Iliescu said Bucharest would not accept ethnic-based autonomy because
that would be tantamount to separatism, APA reported on 8 July. Slovak
State Secretary Josef Sestak said mentioning the word "autonomy" in the
conference's final document could be a violation of the Slovak-Hungarian
basic treaty. The deputy speaker of the Slovak parliament said Hungary
breached its international obligations and its pledge not to support
irredentism. Meanwhile,Magyar Hirlap reported that Hungarian Prime
Minister Gyula Horn proposed an informal meeting with Slovak Prime
Minister Vladimir Meciar. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

[As of 1200 CET]

Compiled by Maura Griffin Solovar