Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1988. július-december (42. évfolyam, 27-48. szám)

1988-11-03 / 41. szám

Thursday, Nov. 3. 1988 AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZO 11. Hungary Liberalizes Law BUDAPEST, - A new law to liber­alize Hungary's economy in a way that the Justice Minister said might smack of capitalism to some people, won unan­imous assent in Parliament. The law, which will take effect in January, opens the way for full foreign ownership of Hungarian companies, a practice that is prohibited elsewhere in Eastern Europe. It also allows Hungarians to trade shares in private companies and employ up to 500 fellow citizens for private profit. The law creates a framework for a West­ern-style capital market and revives types of companies not seen here, since before the Communist takeover in the late( 1940's. Justice Minister Kálmán Kulcsár said in presenting tha draft that the changes where needed to modernize the economy. "It has become quite obvious that without a capital market, the commodity and labor markets cannot function adequately either," he said. Hungarians would have to accept greater disparity of individual incomes and the idea of dividends paid on investments for the sake of modernizing the economy, he said. The new law will largery abolish a num­ber of rules governing state and private enterprises, leaving regulations mainly to financial means. Honey production in Hungary The Ministry of Agriculture and Food gave a press briefing on the production of honey, on the forthcoming tasks of this branch, and on aspects of bee health. In Hungary there are over 22,000 bee­keepers and last year 18,000 tons of honey were produced. This is nearly 2 percent of the world's total honey output. Each year between 14-15,000 tons of honey are sold. Hungary stands in the 6th or 7th place among the world's honey exporting countries. 80 percent of the honey and its derivatives are marketed by Monimpex Foreign Trade Co., while the remaining part is handled by 9 other exporting organizations. In or­der to ensure a joint stand on export mar­kets, recently a Honey Bureau has been set up under the sponsorship of the Hun­garian Chamber of Commerce, for coor­dinating the foreign sales of this product. The major organizers of honey produc­tion and distribution are Hungaronektar Nationwide Apiary Cooperative Joint Co., which see to the production, and process most of the exported product. The same firm also produces bee-keepers' implements and pharmaceuticals. It also finances a specialized apiarian school. Hungaronektar supports the activities of over 400 honey- producing specialized groups. Almost ex­clusively, it is private bee-keepers and entrepreneurs who are responsible for honey production. The further breeding of bee families is provided for at 60 queen-bee raising stations. Among these, the specialized Queen-Bee Raising Group of Godo’llő sells some 30,000 - officially controlled - queen bees a year. THE HAZARD OF CHEMICAL WASTE The ozone hole is not a transient phenom­enon. After all, it took nearly fifty years for the CFCs to make their presence felt in the antarctic atmosphere. (CFCs were first manufactured in 1930 and were de­tected over Antarctica in 1976.) With the continuing release of nearly 362,000 metric tons of CFCs annually, and with a lifetime ranging from 75 to 100 years, the compounds will linger in the atmosphere to the end of the next century at the very least. In 1978, the Untied States banned the use of CFCs in certain aerosols, such as hair sprays. Now, after ten years of prodding by the United Nations Environment Prog­ram, representatives from twenty-four nations signed an agreement in September 1987, in Montreal, to regulate worldwide production of CFCs. The Montreal Proto­col, although laudable, does not go far enough. It freezes CFC production by 1999. What is needed to stabilize the ozone layer at its present level is a reduction of more than 85 percent of the worldwide production of CFCs. Even then, it will take hundreds of years to stabilize the layer! The impending threats posed by stratospheric pollutants underscore the irony that, while governments plan to construct shield against nuclear missiles, the shield that protects us all from destructive UV radiation is threatened by man's own folly and shortsightedness. An intimate ceremony was held in the Hungarian Embassy in Paris, to greet the renowned painter of Hun­garian origin, Viktor Vasarely, on his 80th birthday. Ambassador Rezső Palotás presented the Order of the Banner of the Hungarian People’s Republic adorned with Rubies to the artist on his birthday, awarded by the Pres­idential Council in recognition of his outstanding artistic achievements and his merits in building Hungarian-French cultural relations. Human Rights in Hungary FROM THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD On August 11, a Congressional Record statement by Helsinki Commission Cochair­man Dennis DeConcini reviewed Hungary's human rights and emigration picture during the past year in light of the annual cong­ressional review of Hungary's Most-Favored- Nation (MFN) trade status. Hungary has enjoyed MFN status on its exports to the United States under the terms of section 402 of the 1974 Trade Act - the Jackson-Vanik amendment -, which links such status for non-market economy countries to their emigration performance. The Cochairman noted that "there have been some positive developments in Hun­garian performance which may warrant the extension of MFN for another year." He cited as examples the continued reso­lution of all bilateral family reunification cases, a new passport law which has led to a substantial increase in the number of Hungarians travelling abroad, and an announcement that alternative service will be provided next year to those objec­ting to military service. At the same time, DeConcini noted "continuing violations of Hungary's Helsin­ki and Madrid commitments which deserve our attention, especially in light of some signs that the Hungarian leadership may take a hardened line toward dissent." Among the violations mentioned were the con­tinued denial of passports to select individ­uals because of their political activity, large police raids of several apartments and the confiscation of independently pub­lished materials and printing equipment, in March, and the breaking up of a June 16 demonstration commemorating the execution of Imre Nagy and others for their involvement in the 1956 Revolution. Cochairman DeConcini concluded that, while human violations in Hungary may be "mild relative to those taking place in other East bloc states, they are viola­tions, nonetheless, and I urge the Hungarian Government to bring its practices into line with its Helsinki and Madrid commit­ments." Hungary: Budapest University began its fall term with a new Center for Jewish Studies, the only such academic institution in Eastern Europe. The director Prof. Ge‘- za KomonSczy, 51, an expert on Assyria who has been teaching Biblical Hebrew for 26 years (although he is not Jewish), has drawn up a five-year course for a mas­ter's degree. He noted that the 80,000 Jews in Hungary have no scholars and the Budapest University Center for Jewish Studies will try to develop Jewish scholar­ship in Hungarian Jewish history, Biblical studies, Aramaic and Hebrew languages and in ancient Jewish writings and liturgy. The Center is being subsidized by the Me­morial Foundation for Jewish Culture, based in New York, from funds obtained from West Germany as reparations for the destruction of Jewish culture by the Nazis. CdRBOfJ MONOKÉ

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