| 1. |
CET - 22 March 1995 (mind) |
244 sor |
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| 2. |
Hungarian Office of NATO - Newsletter nr.7 (mind) |
140 sor |
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| 3. |
Hungarian Office of NATO - Newsletter nr.8 (mind) |
123 sor |
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| 4. |
VoA - Magyarorszag/egyetemistak (mind) |
61 sor |
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| 5. |
cet - 23 March 1995 (mind) |
270 sor |
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| + - | CET - 22 March 1995 (mind) |
VÁLASZ |
Feladó:  (cikkei)
|
Wednesday, 22 March 1995
Volume 2, Issue 58
REGIONAL NEWS
-------------
**OSCE WANTS TO SET UP SHOP IN CHECHNYA**
A Hungarian-led Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe, or OSCE, delegation heads to Moscow today. It'll be
trying to iron out the details of a plan to set up a permanent
OSCE office in Chechnya. Hungarian diplomat Istvan Horvath
says if all goes well a final agreement could be in place by
this Monday. Hungary is currently chairing the Vienna-based
OSCE. Horvath says the OSCE would like to open its mission in
Grozny within a month.
**BUDAPEST EXCHANGE LISTS OTC DEALS**
The Budapest Stock Exchange yesterday began listing
over-the-counter trades on a limited basis. The market says
it can attract business by allowing the over-the-counter
exchange to list trades electronically. It also hopes the
deals will make the unregulated trading more open, and
therefore more attractive to investors. OTC business will
be conducted on the bourse for 25 minutes each afternoon.
**TODAY'S BUDAPEST STOCK TIPS**
Budapest's GiroCredit brokerage is recommending blue chip
export firms as a buy on the Budapest Stock Exchange. It says
investors should take advantage of low prices now, ahead of a
possible spring rally. GiroCredit particularly recommends the
pharmaceutical stocks, Richter and Egis, the textile firm
Graboplast and Pick salami. This is the latest good news to
come from last week's forint devaluation, and announcement
that future currency mark downs will occur on a regular
schedule.
BUSINESS FEATURE
----------------
**BUDAPEST BANK SELL-OFF HITS NEW AND OLD HURDLES**
By David Fondler, in cooperation with Business Central Europe
Budapest Bank is scheduled to be the next major bank privatized
in Hungary. But last week, the leading contender, Credit
Suisse, bowed out. Budapest Bank also lost its president last
month. But no worries there. He ascended to the post of
finance minister.
Credit Suisse was expected to pay $80 to $100 million for a
majority share of Budapest Bank. Instead, it'll pay nothing.
After weeks of expensive research, the Swiss bank said
Budapest Bank didn't fit its corporate mold. Bela Singlovics
is chief executive officer at Budapest Bank. He describes the
bank's reaction to the Swiss announcement:
"I can say that that was a surprise considering the amount of
work Credit Suisse and the firms involved by Credit Suisse
undertook in the last two months. I don't want to pretend that
for us what happened is neutral, or we don't care, because we
do care."
Budapest Bank has been known to clear hurdles in the past.
Saddled with $327 million in bad loans when it was formed in
1987, the bank has bolstered its reserves and developed
innovative new services. These include its ATM network and
a system that allows the government to pay student stipends
electronically. Many of these new ideas came from the bank's
former President Lajos Bokros, who left Budapest Bank last
month to become Hungary's new finance minister. Singlovics
says that shouldn't have made a difference to Credit Suisse:
"I don't think that the Swiss would buy a person, they wanted to
buy a bank and not a given person, although they trusted and
still trust Dr. Bokros."
Greg Gransden, politics and economics editor at Business Central
Europe magazine, agrees. He says Bokros's move will only help
the bank.
"Bokros himself understands very well the need and the
desirability of privatization, and now that he's finance
minister he has a position from which to push it from above."
Help from high places is nothing new for the bank. It boasts
some huge corporate clients like Hungary's state-owned oil
company MOL and the state electric utility MVM. But both MOL
and MVM are themselves slated to be sold off, possibly this
year. Once that happens, it's unclear whether Budapest Bank
can retain them as clients, especially if they're sold to
western interests which already do business with western
banks. But that problem could be years down the road.
The other side of the privatization coin is the sell-off of
smaller industrial firms which have been steadily losing
money. Many of these are part of Budapest Bank's bad loan
portfolio, which is not unique for communist-era banks.
Gransden explains:
"Under central planning, the banks weren't so much banks as we
know them, but they were like agencies to funnel credit from
the government to state companies. During the transition, when
these banks had to turn into market-driven credit
institutions, these loans remained on their books."
And this is where Bokros comes in. He can help the
privatization of the entire banking sector, if he continues
the previous finance minister's policy of selling off or
liquidating unprofitable state businesses, getting their bad
loans off the banks' books and making all state-owned banks
more attractive.
So, maybe Credit Suisse isn't interested in Budapest Bank. But
the bank does have other suitors, namely Allied Irish Bank and
ING Bank. But Budapest Bank will have to compete for their
attention. ING is trying to buy Britain's failed Barings
Bank, and Allied Irish has already purchased Poland's WBK
Bank.
ANALYSIS
--------
**UKRAINE FACES CHALLENGES IN BOOSTING WESTERN AID**
Interview with Stephen Heintz, European Studies Center director
at the Institute for East-West Studies in Prague.
By Nancy Marshall
It's a country of 55 million people, the size of France, but
Ukraine thinks it's getting the short end of the stick as far
as western aid goes. As of the end of 1994, the west had
pledged $62.5 billion in aid to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia,
Romania, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. Ukraine has
received just a fraction of that. Stephen Heintz is one of
the authors of a study on the scale and scope of foreign aid
and investment in the region. He's just returned from Kiev,
where he met with top officials in the government of President
Leonid Kuchma.
Heintz: We had a very successful series of meetings. The
government is very committed. It understands that part of
the reason Ukraine hasn't fared so well to date is the
responsiblity of the Ukrainian government itself. They're
committed to taking significant steps to restructure their
assistance coordination efforts, to establish priorities, and
to make their case in a much more effective way to the donor
agencies.
CET: You mentioned the Ukrainian government officials you spoke
with realized that this is partly their fault. What has the
problem been? Why hasn't more aid been flowing into Ukraine?
Heintz: There have been two or three problems. The first is
that for many months following Ukrainian independence, there
was real concern on the part of most observers including those
in donor organizations and governments as to whether or not
Ukraine was committed to economic reform and the building of a
market economy. Now those concerns have been largely
dispelled following the election of President Kuchma last July
and the ambitious reform program he's embarked on for Ukraine.
The second obstacle is that the institutions of the state in
Ukraine are still very young. We all have to realize that
Ukraine was never an independent state except very briefly
from 1918 to 1921. And so the actual structures of statehood
aren't as well developed as they are in countries like Poland,
Hungary and the Czech Republic.
CET: Did some of the Ukrainian government officials with whom
you spoke feel that in giving up its nuclear weapons the
Ukraine gave up too much clout and that's why it's not getting
more aid?
Heintz: There seemed to be more concern about the commitment
of western assistance programs on the issue of Chernobyl than
there was any sense of concern or possible resentment about
not supporting Ukraine after having agreed to the destruction
of the nuclear military force.
CET: What kinds of concerns do western aid donors have about
Chernobyl and how is Ukraine trying to alleviate those
concerns?
Heintz: The major concern is that the west is putting a lot of
pressure on Ukraine to close Chernobyl because of the concerns
about its safety. Ukraine has two concerns: one that it's an
extremely expensive process. They're afraid that the amount
of funds available from the west to support the
decommissioning of the reactors won't be adequate to the task.
The problem is it's very hard to estimate how much it'll cost.
The second level of concern is to make sure there are
adequate sources of energy to replace the loss of the nuclear
power. That's dependent on the west and continued western
support and also dependent on Russia which supplies all of
Ukraine's fossil fuels, oil and natural gas. It's a very
complicated issue. The Ukrainians are afraid they're going to
be left holding the bag on Chernobyl. They realize it's a
risky situation. I think they're committed to closing it
down. They want to feel they have reliable partners in the
process.
CET: So that particular issue, Chernobyl, is still under
discussion, no agreements have been reached?
Heintz: Not yet, but I did detect a lot of optimism in Kiev at
the end of last week. People were beginning to think an
agreement could be reached in the very near future.
CET: How near?
Heintz: It could even be in the next couple of weeks from what
I understand.
ABOUT CET ON-LINE
-----------------
* CET On-Line - copyright (c) 1995 Word Up! Inc. All rights reserved.
This publication may be freely forwarded, archived, or
otherwise distributed in electronic format only so long as
this notice, and all other information contained in this
publication is included. For-profit distribution of this
publication or the information contained herein is strictly
prohibited. For more information, contact the publishers.
*****************************************************************
A tovabbterjesztest a New York-i szekhelyu Magyar Emberi Jogok
Alapitvany tamogatja.
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Reposting is supported by Hungarian Human Rights Foundation News
and Information Service.
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|
| + - | Hungarian Office of NATO - Newsletter nr.7 (mind) |
VÁLASZ |
Feladó:  (cikkei)
|
No.7
NEWSLETTER
HUNGARIAN OFFICE OF NATO / WEU INFORMATION
Budapest 1241, Pf. 181. Tel: (36-1)262-1920 Fax: (36-1)264-9623
E-mail:
Foreign Policy Debate in the Hungarian Parliament
On February 22nd 1995, a foreign policy debate was held in the Hungarian
Parliament. Laszlo Kovacs, the Minister for Foreign Affairs gave an account
of the political and security situation in the region, and within this of
Hungary. Concerning the priorities of Hungarian foreign policy, the minister
stressed that the emphasis had not changed, continuity of policy is being
ensured and Hungary is approaching NATO, the EU and the WEU at the same time.
Kovacs stated that in the last seven months the country came closer to the
European institutions, where our partners are treating us as potential
members. At the same time, it would be desirable to have a defined time-scale
and set of requirements for membership, so that the decision to allow new
members could happen on a country by country basis, as opposed to group of
countries.
Since the arrival in office of the new government, the minister drew attention
particularly to the improvement of both Hungarian/Slovak and Hungarian/Romanian
relations. The basic treaties are being debated at all levels at this present
time. The signing of those treaties is seen by the government as, on the one
hand, a useful tool in balancing relations, and on the other as being
favourable to the Hungarian minorities living outside of Hungary. If the
exercise of stipulating minority rights in a bilateral agreement proves to
be successful, then international legal obligations will become political
obligations with the signing of the European framework document. According
to the Minister, Hungarian foreign policy must evidence great care, moderation
and tolerance as regards our neighbours and everything must be done in the
interests of solidifying the relations.
Matyas Eorsi, (Free Democrats) Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on
Foreign Affairs, stated that there are no serious arguments within the
coalition government as concerns foreign policy. The Alliance of Free
Democrats is satisfied with the handling of foreign affairs and the
requirements of the coalition are being met. He did however express his
opinion that the opposition's claim that the government does not take into
account the interests of the Hungarian minority abroad, was a dangerous claim.
The spokesmen of the opposition parties criticised the government's foreign
policy, especially what concerns the neighbouring states and the basic treaty
issue. They wanted an answer as to why the government does not deal with the
representatives of the minorities abroad. Lajos Fur, the Chairman of the
Hungarian Democratic Forum saw the issue of the minority as one of European
security and that it would be a crime to sacrifice their interests for
European integration.
Zsolt Nemeth, (Young Democrats) criticised the government's so-called
'smiling diplomacy' and said that the basic treaties were unnecessary
since they do not serve the stability of Europe.
Agnes Maczo, (Independent Smallholders), called upon historical precedents,
and quoting previous Hungarian statesmen and writers, strongly criticised
current foreign policy.
Laszlo Surjan (Christian Democrats) encouraged agreement among the opposition
in expressing its desire to be more involved in the process of decisionmaking.
The Prime Minister, Gyula Horn, also entered into the debate stating that
the government intends to take the process of joining both NATO and the EU,
to its logical conclusion. In his opinion, the majority of the internal
conditions, such as the rule of law, parliamentary democracy and the
guaranteeing of human rights, are already given. The process of political
and legal harmonisation is in progress. At the same time Horn emphasised
that the government utilises all the possible tools in its possession in
order to support and aid the realisation of the interests of those Hungarians
who live outside of the country. In connection with the treaties, the PM
stressed that this issue is about framework documents, which neither replace
the European Council's document on the protection of minorities, nor the
previous documents issued by the EU. In reply to the opposition critique
of the treaties, Horn said that the government had consulted with the
parties and groups of the national minorities in the neighbouring countries.
The PM was of the opinion that Hungary can enter the structures of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in the year 1996 and also begin talks
at the same time on membership with the EU. One of the important
prerequisites of this is that the debated issues be resolved, since
neither NATO, nor the EU, nor the WEU want to import the tensions of
the region into their structures. He said that it would be inexcusable
for Hungary to miss this opportunity of joining European Union and NATO.
Consensus amongst the six parties of parliament was shown most clearly on
the issue of the importance of European integration as a whole. In this
area, the views of the government and the opposition were most alike on
matters of security policy. Most of the objections, however, were related
to the issue of the Hungarian minority.
Public Debate Organised by German Foundation
The Friedrich Ebert Foundation organised a seminar in connection with the
parliamentary events, involving specialists and interest groups related
to the field. Presentations were heard from a government official and
an opposition MP.
Istvan Szent-Ivanyi, Political State Secretary of the Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, stated that the political forces in the country are moving towards
consensus as far as foreign policy is concerned. The three basic priorities
remain: commitment to European integration, relations with neighbouring
states, and the issue of the Hungarian minorities.
The State Secretary did, however, say that the issue of consensus had
somewhat become a fetish among politicians. In the other democracies of
the West, consensus is not always achieved. Hungarian foreign policy is
limited in the possibilities afforded to it and its sphere of manoeuvring
is also restricted. This is felt both by the government and the opposition.
The existence of debate in parliament over these issues does not mean that
any dramatic development has taken place which affects matters severely.
Although the opinion of the minorities abroad is important with reference
to the basic treaties, they cannot be allowed to exercise veto rights,
stated the State Secretary.
Gyorgy Csoti, (Hungarian Democratic Forum) from the Opposition, and Deputy
Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, opposed the previous view, saying
that progress is not being made towards consensus. Actually the opposite is
true. The views of the opposition and the coalition are separating. As proof
of this he quoted the PM's speech in which he said that Hungary is to
subordinate all issues to the priory of Western integration. This, in his
opinion, means that the interests of the Hungarian minorities are therefore
'placed on the back-burner'.
He also stated that the treaties with Romania and Slovakia should not be
signed if the legitimate representative of Hungarian minorities do not
agree with their content.
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A tovabbterjesztest a New York-i szekhelyu Magyar Emberi Jogok
Alapitvany tamogatja.
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[*][*][*] [*][*][*] [*][*] [*][*]
[*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*]
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Reposting is supported by Hungarian Human Rights Foundation News
and Information Service.
*****************************************************************
|
| + - | Hungarian Office of NATO - Newsletter nr.8 (mind) |
VÁLASZ |
Feladó:  (cikkei)
|
March 1995
No.8
NEWSLETTER
HUNGARIAN OFFICE OF NATO / WEU INFORMATION
___________________________________________________________________
Budapest 1241, Pf. 181. Tel: (36-1)262-1920 Fax: (36-1)264-9623
E-mail:
Experts Meet to Evaluate the December 1994 OSCE Conference
The Budapest Institute for Strategic and Defence Studies, in collaboration
with the French Academy of Peace and International Security, held a one day
conference on 3rd March 1995. The aim of the conference was to bring together
specialists on the CSCE process and individuals involved in its executive
bodies to discuss in one forum how the events at the end of last year have
effected the organisation and the international climate.
Among those present, were Istvan Gyarmati, Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE,
Prof. Victor-Yves Ghebali, renowned CSCE specialist, Rudolf Joo, former
Hungarian State Secretary of Defence and Nicolas Mettra, the Deputy Head
of the French OSCE Mission in Vienna. Debate was lively and opinions differed
as to the future role of the organisation.
The Chairman-in-Office gave an account of his experiences in being involved
with the crisis in Chechnya and the OSCE missions in Moldova and Nagorno-
Karabakh. The main drive of Mr. Gyarmati's presentation was an emphasis of
the new cooperative nature of conflict management, in contrast to the
confrontational approach that the world was previously used to.
A detailed evaluation of the actual events of the Budapest meeting was
given by Prof. Ghebali, who saw the main event of the conference as the
change from CSCE to OSCE, meaning an actual international organisation as
opposed to an amorphous institutional process. He did however warn of the
possibility that there is a danger of the new structure laying in a quasi
limbo until the necessary model for functioning can be formulated at the
1996 Lisbon Summit.
Former State Secretary Joo, during the panel discussion gave a detailed
picture of how the High Commissioner for National Minorities has been able
to tangibly assist in the easing of ethnic tensions in the region, most
especially with regard to the plight of the Hungarian ethnic minority in
Romania.
The day's events were added to be the interesting angle of Nicolas Mettra's
piece on what the European Union's aims were for the Budapest summit. These
were detailed as the enhancement of the CSCE as a crisis prevention organ,
to keep the CSCE as a forum for the discussion of security issues and
thirdly to enhance its institutional framework.
Lastly a provocative view was forwarded by Igor Toporovski, Director of
the Moscow Institute of World Policy Studies as regards the Russian attitude
towards the OSCE and to its involvement within the CIS region, which he
ruled out, due to the fact that the conflicts in this region are primarily
political in nature and not ethnic or religious.
The full texts of the presentations and a summary of the debates overall will
be published in English and Hungarian by the Institute for Strategic and
Defence Studies, sometime in late March.
High-Level Hungarian-Russian Meeting
On Monday 6th March, Gyula Horn, the Hungarian Prime Minister arrived in
Moscow for a two day consultation with President Boris Yeltsin and Viktor
Chernomirdin.
During the talks with the President, both sides were in agreement that the
process of Euro-Atlantic integration was a long-term one, in which the
countries wanting to take part have to satisfy the conditions of membership
in given organisations. PM Horn emphasised Hungary's intentions towards the
bodies of Euro-Atlantic integration. At the same time he underlined that
Russian security interests need to be acknowledged. The PM underlined that
conflicts of the region and those of the world cannot be solved without
the participation of Russia.
The Russian side expressed its strong belief that the question of gaining
NATO membership is a sovereign decision of Hungary which does not effect
the bilateral relations between the two countries. PM Horn expressed his
hope that NATO can stabilise the Central European region.
President Yeltsin said it is necessary to create all-encompassing
organisations for European security and cooperation.
Both sides stated that there are no political problems or obstacles within
the relations of the two countries. During the Prime Ministerial talks,
there came the opportunity to exchange documents concerning the 1991 treaty
on friendship and cooperation, which had now been ratified.
During the rest of the consultations, agreements were also reached regarding
the former Soviet debt. Russia will deliver military technology and weaponry
for the value of 300 million USD to Hungary.
Survey Results
Marketing Centrum, a Hungarian polling institute, has compiled a report on
the opinion of the general public as concerns the nation's security policy.
The poll took place between January 6th and 10th of this year, at 100 points
around the country where citizens were approached completely at random.
The largest group of replies, 45%, felt that peace is most threatened by
ethnic conflicts resulting from the collapse of previous federal state
systems. 48% of the populous see the Yugoslav crisis as a source of further
danger, while 43% see the successor states of the Soviet Union as a possible
source.
Of all those asked, 16% were against joining NATO, 43% of these individuals
favouring neutrality. 75% of those asked, knew what NATO was, while 76% felt
that within a few years Hungary could join the organisation, and 70% of these
expected membership to increase the security of the country.
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A tovabbterjesztest a New York-i szekhelyu Magyar Emberi Jogok
Alapitvany tamogatja.
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[*][*][*] [*][*][*] [*][*] [*][*]
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Reposting is supported by Hungarian Human Rights Foundation News
and Information Service.
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|
| + - | VoA - Magyarorszag/egyetemistak (mind) |
VÁLASZ |
Feladó:  (cikkei)
|
date=3/22/95
type=correspondent report
number=2-175901
title=Hungary Students (s)
byline=Stephen Bos
dateline=Budapest
content=
voiced at:
Intro: About 10-thousand Hungarian students demonstrated in
Budapest Wednesday to protest the government's plan to charge
fees for higher education. Stephen Bos reports from Budapest
Hungarian Minister of Finance Lajos Bokros tried to explain this
policy to an angry crowd.
Text: Hungarian Finance Minister Lajos Bokros was interrupted
several times as he tried to explain the government's policy to
the angry crowd. The finance minister was jeered and shouted
down by students when attempting to explain why the socialist
government plans to put an end to the policy of free higher
education.
Mr. Bokros told the crowd that later this year students will have
to pay a monthly fee of about two-thousand forints or 17 dollars
as part of the government's plan to reduce state spending
announced March 12th.
During the weekend prime minister Gyula Horn said in a nationwide
T-V address that his government cannot afford to spend
27-percent of the country's gross domestic product on social
welfare programs, as had been done during 40 years of communist
rule.
The latest opinion polls show that almost 70-percent of
Hungarians are opposed to the government's austerity measures.
In addition to curtailing student benefits, the government plan
would severely restrict state payments to thousands of middle
class families. (Signed)
neb/sb/jaj-t/cf
22-Mar-95 3:20 pm est (2020 utc)
nnnn
source: Voice of America
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A tovabbterjesztest a New York-i szekhelyu Magyar Emberi Jogok
Alapitvany tamogatja.
[*] [*] [*] [*] [*][*] [*][*][*]
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[*][*][*] [*][*][*] [*][*] [*][*]
[*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*]
[*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*]
Reposting is supported by Hungarian Human Rights Foundation News
and Information Service.
*****************************************************************
|
| + - | cet - 23 March 1995 (mind) |
VÁLASZ |
Feladó:  (cikkei)
|
Thursday, 23 March 1995
Volume 2, Issue 59
REGIONAL NEWS
-------------
**YOUNG HUNGARIANS PROTEST TUITION FEES**
An estimated 20,000 Hungarian college students protested across
the country yesterday against the government's plan to
introduce an $18-per-month tuition fee. About 10,000
banner-waving students marched through the streets of Budapest
to the finance ministry, where they presented their demands to
Finance Minister Lajos Bokros. They want the government to
reverse its plans to start charging the tuition fee this fall.
The tution is part of sweeping austerity measures announced
11 days ago that include steep cuts in family support payments
and a sharp devaluation of the forint. About 20 percent of
Hungary's students fall into a low income category, and won't
have to pay the fee. The government says the rest of the
country's students should do their part to help Hungary reduce
its budget deficit. Bokros tried to explain that to jeering
students, saying they pay more every month for cigarettes than
the $18 tution fee.
"We are going to save this country from state bankruptcy. I
would like everyone to add this symbolic amount of 2,000
forints."
But it's the symbolic nature of the payment that really wories
students, who fear the price will rise, possibly as soon as
next year. According to the Central Statistics Office, in
1993 it cost more than $3,000 to educate a student. That
would hardly be dented by the $180 annual tuition. Under
these circumstances, medical student Orsolya Romi says the
tuition just doesn't make sense.
"We are too poor to pay this. I don't think it's good for the
university to get money from the students. It's not enough
and it's not effective."
Many students say the tuition wouldn't be so bad if student
loans were available. Tamas Kovacs is vice president of the
National Union of Students.
"We had an agreement with the government that we the students
will pay tuition from 1996 September if there will be a
Hungarian development act. A new act on higher education. We
agreed on these conditions and they broke this agreement."
Kovacs says negotiations will continue with government officials
next week. But if these aren't successful students say they
might protest again next month. Or they might not pay the
tuition at all. --David Fink
**HARSH ECONOMIC MEASURES DUE IN POLAND SOON**
Poland's ruling left-wing coalition is trying to implement an
austerity plan concerning pensions. But it suspects the
opposition to its proposal will come from politicians. Under
the government's program, Poles would be offered incentives to
contribute to private pension plans. Benefits from government
pensions would be made more dependent on premium payments,
although the government would offer a minimum level of
pensions for all. Pension and disability payments would also
be linked to inflation. Polish President Lech Walesa has
already said he'll oppose that part of the government's plan.
The short-term pain the rest of the proposals would inflict
are sure to leave the ruling coaltion open to more criticism
in this presidential election year. The austerity plan
involves 15 to 18 bills which should win cabinet approval next
month and go before parliament for a vote late this year.
BUSINESS NEWS
-------------
**HUNGARIAN AIRLINE SEES BUDAPEST AS CARGO CENTRAL**
Hungary's MALEV airlines says it wants to make Budapest its new
East European air cargo hub. Budapest would replace Vienna,
which has long sold itself as the gateway to the East. But
MALEV Air Cargo Chief Ferenc Kovacs says Budapest is more
centrally located than Vienna. Kovacs says MALEV is most
interested in connecting former communist countries with
Western Europe New York and the Middle East. But there is one
problem with Budapest's Ferihegy airport: MALEV has limited
cargo capacity there.
BUSINESS FEATURE
----------------
**CHANGES IN AIRLINE AND AIRPORT DEALS**
Current events in the travel industry
By David Fondler
New travel agreements between Hungary and Japan, and Hungary
and Italy were in the news this past week, as were deals
involving the renovation of Prague's airport.
The Hungarian airline MALEV has been running a summer charter
service between Budapest and Japan for a couple of years now.
Mainly, the service has been bringing Japanese business people
and tourists to Central Europe, using Budapest as a hub for
package travel deals around the region. Chris Warrington runs
ESO Leisure and Executive Travel in Budapest. He says there
have been some changes in the agreement between Malev and the
Japanese government:
"Capacity has been increased, the agreement has been signed for
57 charters which could operate between the two countries.
And the aircraft that'll be used on this is the Boeing 767 of
which MALEV have the wide-bodied twin-jet aircraft, using this
to take 20,000 passengers between Japan and Hungary."
But Warrington says so far, this service has been primarily one-
way, as few Hungarian-based travellers have flown to Japan.
That's because Japan is an expensive destination, and travel
from there to other parts of Asia is also not cheap. Other
developments for MALEV this week: alterations to its travel
agreement with the Italian airline, Alitalia, which owns a
quarter of the Hungarian airline. Warrington says among the
changes: more Italian destinations for MALEV:
"I think points that will probably be served would be Venice
especially, possibly Florence and maybe down into Sicily."
But with those additional destinations comes more competition.
Part of the changes to the agreement involve bringing in other
airlines to offer flights between Italy and Hungary.
Warrington says this is standard in airline agreements in the
west:
Within the European Community, which Italy is a part of, the
European Union, airlines now can operate on an ad-hoc basis
and on a scheduled basis between points in two other countries
within the community; ie: British Airways can operate flights
between Paris and Rome."
And this is the kind of competition that MALEV and other Central
European national carriers can expect if their home countries
join the EU.
On the ground, we see changes on tap for Prague's international
airport, with the Czech government announcing yesterday that
it'll back the financing of the terminal's expansion. Under
the new deal, the Czech Airport Authority will join the French
firm Bouygues and British Aerospace in a $200 million
renovation of Prague's airport terminal. The agreement
replaces a deal which was scrapped last December, because the
Czech transport ministry felt the financing requirements were
too strict. But putting the business of the deal aside,
Warrington says the renovations are necessary:
"They need a new airport terminal quite dramatically. the
traffic has grown quite considerably into Prague itself over
the past couple of years. If they want to continue to bring
people in and have return visits and make people more
comfortable in the way they come in and out of the country,
then this is a necessity for the Czech government to get this
up and running."
The new Prague terminal is expected to more than double the
airport's passenger capacity to almost 5 million people by the
year 2000.
NEWS FEATURE
------------
**BUDAPEST'S KALYI JAG FESTIVAL CELEBATES MINORITY CULTURES**
By David Fondler
Hungary is looking at minority issues both at home and abroad.
Budapest just signed a basic treaty with Bratislava covering
rights for the substantial Hungarian minority in Slovakia. A
similar agreement with Romania is in the works. At home,
Hungary is dealing with the issue of minority rights for the
non-Hungarians within its borders, sometimes with the help of
music.
With the flourish of a fiddle, seven stomping couples kicked
off the sixth annual Kalyi Jag International Folklore
Festival, which began Monday night, and runs all this week in
Budapest. Most of the performers are from Hungary, but that
doesn't mean they're Hungarian. Romanian, Bulgarian, Serbo-
Croatian, Greek, German and Yiddish bands will all grace the
stage, along with Gypsy troupes which have intersected all
these other cultures.
Kalyi Jag is a Gypsy, or Romany, cultural organization, born
from the Roma musical group of the same name in 1991. Gusztav
Varga, an ethnic Romany, is president of the Kalyi Jag
Association, and founder of the festival:
"The importance of this festival is that there are big problems,
both economically and culturally for the minorities within and
outside Hungary. And promoting culture is a way of fighting,
of making a demonstration against racism and promoting the
idea of tolerance."
Varga says he got the idea for the festival just as Hungary was
emerging from communism. He says he saw the country focusing
on the political rights of the country's minorities, but not
their cultural interests. And Varga feels understanding
culture is essential for good minority relations.
Peter Szabo lives in Hungary, but leads a Romanian dance troupe
which performed at the festival. He says the experience of
his group illustrates some of the basic minority issues both
in and out of Hungary:
"Lots of them are Romanian by nationality, only their
citizenship is Hungarian because they were born here. In
1922, when the borders were established, they remained here
and Hungarians remained on the other side. But they stick with
their mother tongue."
Preservation of mother languages and cultures are just some of
the points covered in basic treaty negotiations. Csaba
Tabajdi is Hungary's state secretary for minority affairs and
helped open the festival. He says the Hungarian government's
concern with protecting the rights of Hungarians abroad should
give it a certain empathy for minorities within Hungary. Last
year, Budapest enacted a minority self-government law,
granting some autonomy to Hungary's ethnic communities. But
Tabajdi isn't sure if this law will be used as a model by
Hungary's neighbors:
"I don't think so that this act on minorities may have a certain
influence on minorities living outside the borders. It
depends on the political willingness of the political elites
of neighboring countries."
But Tabajdi does think that events like Kalyi Jag can bridge the
gap in cultural understanding. It certainly has worked for
one week on a stage Budapest, where multi-colored,
multi-cultured groups of performers have learned to sing with
one voice.
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A tovabbterjesztest a New York-i szekhelyu Magyar Emberi Jogok
Alapitvany tamogatja.
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