William Penn Life, 2000 (35. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2000-08-01 / 8. szám
Britain outlines plan to speed up Hungary’s acceptance into EU from wire service reports BUDAPEST — British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook recently announced a plan that would help Hungary join the European Union as quickly as possible, even before it meets some "obligations of membership." Cook unveiled the plan during a visit to Budapest July 25. He did not say which obligations could be delayed, but noted that the EU should acknowledge that some of the requirments are costly and cannot be expected to be completed before admitting Hungary. He praised the Hungarian government for working to meet EU regulations, but said "there is still a lot of work to be done to complete the task of transferring 80,000 pages of EU legislation into Hungarian law." Cook also said EU leaders should set specific target dates for the proposed admission of Hungary and other eastern European countries. Hungarian leaders have complained that the EU's promise to expand by 2003 isn't clear enough for them to win political support in Hungary for all the necessary reforms. Cook traveled to Prague the next day to announce a similar plan for speeding up the admission of the Czech Republic. Of the 13 countries seeking EU membership, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland are the leading candidates. Several EU member states are opposed to hastened expansion. Germany has called for changes in the EU constitution before admitting more countries. Right-wing politicians in Austria, Denmark and Italy have warned enlargement would flood the labor market with lowwage workers. Leaders discuss minorities in Romania BUCHAREST — Romania Prime Minister Mugur Isarescu stressed the importance analyzing interethnic relations in his country in order to avoid the ethnic cleansing and minority oppression found in the former Yugoslavia. He made his comments last month during a conference in Bucharest devoted to the treatment of minorities in Romania. The conference was attended by an international collection of government representatives, opposition party leaders, representatives from Romania's leading minority groups, scholars and human rights activists. Andrew Ludanyi of the Hungarian American Coalition noted Romania is home to 2 million conationals. "Politics must become a win-win proposition, and not just a winner-take-all process," he said. "It is the responsibility of the Romanian elite to communicate this to the rest of society, because Romania as a whole has everything to gain by becoming a positive model." Hungary files suit over cyanide spill BUDAPEST - Hungary is seeking more than $100 million from an Australian mining company for damages caused earlier this year by a cyanide spill in the Danube River. Esmeralda Exploration is halfowner of the gold mine in Baia Mare, Romania, the source of the spill. The company has not accepted responsibility for the spill and said damage claims have been exaggerated. Hungary is also reportedly considering filing suit against the Romanian partner in the mine and the Romanian government. The spill, which occurred Jan. 31, sent some 100,000 tons of cyanide into the Tisza River. It then flowed to the Danube. Experts say it may take a decade for the rivers to recover. New website serves as portal to Hungary NEW YORK -- Interested in finding out what's happening in Hungary today? Looking for chatrooms and discussion forums in the Hungarian language? If so, you might want to check out a new portal website on the Internet. UnoWeb was launched last month by Metromedia International Group, Inc. The site, completely in Hungarian, carries real-time news, entertainment stories, plus financial, sports and weather information. The site also contains online dictionaries, horoscopes, classified ads, personal ads, chatrooms, games and forums. UnoWeb, in conjunction with the Budapest radio station, Radio Juventus, offers real-time song and artist information along with a platform for visitors to purchase music. You can log onto UnoWeb at http://www.uno.hu. Hungarian community? If you know of someone or something making news of interest to your fellow Magyars, send the details to us for inclusion on our “Magyar Matters” page. Send your news to: Magyar Matters do William Penn Association 709 Brighton Road Pittsburgh, PA 15233 (412) 231-2979 Ext. 135 _______1111111_1..UM---BHBHBB William Penn Life, August 2000 13
