Read the Weekly Financial Report on Greek Markets (by SAE Americas) Read the Convention Relating to the Regime of the Straits (24 July 1923) Read the Convention Relating to the Regime of the Straits (24 July 1923)
HR-Net - Hellenic Resources Network Compact version
Today's Suggestion
Read The "Macedonian Question" (by Maria Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou)
HomeAbout HR-NetNewsWeb SitesDocumentsOnline HelpUsage InformationContact us
Thursday, 28 March 2024
 
News
  Latest News (All)
     From Greece
     From Cyprus
     From Europe
     From Balkans
     From Turkey
     From USA
  Announcements
  World Press
  News Archives
Web Sites
  Hosted
  Mirrored
  Interesting Nodes
Documents
  Special Topics
  Treaties, Conventions
  Constitutions
  U.S. Agencies
  Cyprus Problem
  Other
Services
  Personal NewsPaper
  Greek Fonts
  Tools
  F.A.Q.
 

RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 54, 00-03-16

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 54, 16 March 2000


CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

  • [01] ARMENIAN PREMIER ANGERED AT PRESIDENT'S ARMY APPOINTMENTS
  • [02] KARABAKH PARLIAMENT BACKS NEW DRAFT ELECTION LAW
  • [03] GEORGIAN, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTS REAFFIRM PARTNERSHIP...
  • [04] ...DISCUSS GUUAM
  • [05] GEORGIAN OPPOSITION PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE THREATENS LAW
  • [06] KAZAKHSTAN'S PREMIER TO DECIDE ON TENGIZCHEVROIL SALE
  • [07] PROTEST DEMONSTRATIONS CONTINUE IN KYRGYZSTAN...
  • [08] ...AS OSCE TOP OFFICIAL MEETS WITH PRESIDENT
  • [09] PARLIAMENT CANDIDATE KILLED IN KYRGYZ HELICOPTER CRASH

  • [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

  • [10] YUGOSLAV ARMY BLASTS MONTENEGRIN LEADERSHIP
  • [11] NATO'S CLARK WARNS OF MILOSEVIC MOVE AGAINST MONTNEGRO
  • [12] SERBIAN AUTHORITIES SHUT DOWN ANOTHER INDEPENDENT
  • [13] ALBRIGHT: SERBIAN OPPOSITION NEEDS ONE LEADER
  • [14] U.S. SEIZES ARMS FROM ALBANIAN EXTREMISTS
  • [15] ALBRIGHT WARNS ALBANIAN NATIONALISTS
  • [16] BULGARIA, ALBANIA CONCERNED ABOUT EXTREMISTS
  • [17] COMPROMISE IN MITROVICA
  • [18] MILOSEVIC BLASTS UN MISSION IN KOSOVA
  • [19] DID TUDJMAN HAVE TELEPHONE LINE TO MILOSEVIC?
  • [20] CROATIA PAID HERZEGOVINIANS SECOND SALARIES
  • [21] ETHNIC HUNGARIAN PARTY CRITICIZES ROMANIAN MINORITY
  • [22] MOLDOVAN, TRANSDNIESTRIAN PARLIAMENTS SIGN ACCORD
  • [23] BULGARIAN PREMIER, OPPOSITION LEADER UPBEAT ON MEETING
  • [24] BULGARIA CRITICIZES 'LEAK' OF UN REPORT

  • [C] END NOTE

  • [25] POLAND WANTS EU MEMBERSHIP BY 2003

  • [A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

    [01] ARMENIAN PREMIER ANGERED AT PRESIDENT'S ARMY APPOINTMENTS

    Meeting late on 14 March with representatives of the

    parliamentary majority Miasnutiun bloc, Aram Sargsian

    condemned President Robert Kocharian's failure to inform him

    in advance of his intention to promote senior army generals

    who are leading members of the Yerkrapah Union of veterans of

    the Karabakh war, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported (see

    "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 March 2000). That failure, Sargsian

    said, was "a violation of the rules of the game." He stressed

    that he does not oppose those appointments but added that

    Kocharian's failure to inform him or Defense Minister

    Vagharshak Harutiunian in advance was unacceptable.

    Miasnutiun members present at the meeting told RFE/RL that

    Sargsian said Harutiunian had wanted to resign in protest but

    that he had dissuaded him from doing so. LF

    [02] KARABAKH PARLIAMENT BACKS NEW DRAFT ELECTION LAW

    The

    legislature of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic has

    adopted "as a basis for further discussions" a draft election

    law that does not provide for the election of deputies under

    the party list system, RFE/RL's Stepanakert correspondent

    reported on 15 March. The enclave's top leaders maintain that

    political parties in Nagorno-Karabakh are still too weak to

    take over the leadership. The opposition had proposed an

    alternative draft under which 11 seats in the new parliament

    would have been allocated under the party list system and the

    remaining 22 in single-mandate constituencies. LF

    [03] GEORGIAN, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTS REAFFIRM PARTNERSHIP...

    Leonid

    Kuchma met with his Georgian counterpart, Eduard

    Shevardnadze, in Tbilisi on 15 March, Caucasus Press

    reported. The two presidents signed a joint statement on

    extending bilateral cooperation within the framework of a

    relationship that Kuchma described as "deeper than just a

    special partnership." Shevardnadze, for his part, told

    journalists after his talks with Kuchma that the two

    countries' interests "completely coincide," according to

    Interfax. Those interests include the possible transport of

    Caspian oil to international markets via Ukraine and the

    TRACECA transport project. Ukraine is also likely to be

    formally included in the Friends of the UN Secretary-General

    Group, which is seeking to mediate a solution of the Abkhaz

    conflict (see " RFE/RL Newsline," 5 January 2000). Kuchma is

    to meet with Minister of State Vazha Lortkipanidze and

    parliamentary speaker Zurab Zhvania on 16 March before flying

    to Baku. LF

    [04] ...DISCUSS GUUAM

    At their joint press conference on 15

    March, Shevardnadze said that he and Kuchma want regional

    cooperation within GUUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan,

    Azerbaijan, and Moldova) to serve the interests of all its

    members, Caucasus Press reported. The Georgian president

    noted that the doors of that group are open to new members.

    But he stressed that the alignment is primarily economic and

    that military cooperation between its members plays only a

    minor role. LF

    [05] GEORGIAN OPPOSITION PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE THREATENS LAW

    SUIT

    A spokesman for Djumber Patiashvili said Patiashvili

    will begin legal proceedings against the Georgian leadership

    if the latter fails to identify and arrest a group of young

    men who pelted him with rotten eggs during a campaign meeting

    in the southeast Georgian town of Bolnisi on 14 March,

    Caucasus Press reported. Local police failed to intervene,

    even when a fight broke out between the egg-throwers and

    Patiashvili's supporters. Central Electoral Commission

    chairman Djumber Lominadze condemned the incident on 15

    March. Patiashvili is regarded as the most serious of the six

    rival candidates to Shevardnadze, who is seeking a second

    term. Meanwhile, Roin Liparteliani, whose application to

    register for the poll was rejected, has said he will seek

    political asylum in Europe, according to Caucasus Press.

    Liparteliani said he was pressured by the Central Electoral

    Commission which claimed that signatures submitted in support

    of his application were forged. LF

    [06] KAZAKHSTAN'S PREMIER TO DECIDE ON TENGIZCHEVROIL SALE

    Presidential administration official Sarybai Kalmurzaev told

    journalists in Astana on 15 March that President Nursultan

    Nazarbaev has asked Prime Minister Qasymzhomart Toqaev to

    decide whether Kazakhstan should sell part of its 25 percent

    stake in the Tengizchevroil joint venture, Interfax reported.

    The country's leaders disagree over the advisability of and

    timeframe for doing so (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 November

    1999 and 7 March 2000). LF

    [07] PROTEST DEMONSTRATIONS CONTINUE IN KYRGYZSTAN...

    A crowd

    estimated between several hundred and 1,000 gathered in

    central Bishkek on 15 March to protest the conduct and

    outcome of the 12 March second round of voting for a new

    parliament, RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital reported.

    They were prevented by police from entering the government

    building or the Constitutional Court, where they had hoped to

    hand over a petition addressed to President Askar Akaev,

    Constitutional Court chairwoman Cholpon Baekova, Bishkek

    mayor Medet Kerimkulov and the OSCE. That petition, which was

    signed by some 13,000 people, demands the holding of repeat

    elections in constituencies contended by opposition

    candidates and the annulment of court rulings barring

    opposition candidates from contending the poll. Protests also

    continued on 15 March in the village of Kara-Buura, Talas

    Oblast, in Djalalabad, and in Balykchy (see "RFE/RL

    Newsline," 15 March 2000). LF

    [08] ...AS OSCE TOP OFFICIAL MEETS WITH PRESIDENT

    OSCE Secretary-

    General Jan Kubis arrived in Bishkek on 15 March for a one-

    day visit during which he discussed the elections with

    President Akaev and with opposition party leaders Feliks

    Kulov and Daniyar Usenov, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported.

    Usenov was barred from the second round, while OSCE monitors

    have publicly questioned the legality of Kulov's defeat in

    Kara-Buura (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 March 2000). Kubis

    cancelled a scheduled press conference, but Reuters quoted

    him as describing the poll as "a blemish on the president's

    prestige." LF

    [09] PARLIAMENT CANDIDATE KILLED IN KYRGYZ HELICOPTER CRASH

    Erkinbek Maryev, a deputy to the outgoing Kyrgyz parliament

    who was re-elected on 12 March, was killed in a helicopter

    crash in Naryn Oblast on 15 March, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau

    reported. Two crew members also died, while the remaining

    four crew members and passengers were seriously injured. LF


    [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [10] YUGOSLAV ARMY BLASTS MONTENEGRIN LEADERSHIP

    The commanders

    of the Yugoslav Second Army, which has responsibility for

    Montenegro, said in a faxed statement on 16 March that the

    Montenegrin leadership is colluding with unnamed NATO powers

    against the army, AP reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15

    March 2000). The statement noted that "attempts here to

    disunite the army from its people are recognized as coming

    from those same forces who failed in their aggression through

    military airstrikes [against Serbia in 1999]. Actions [by

    President Milo Djukanovic's government] against the army in

    Montenegro are taken in collusion with foreigners.... The

    wish of certain persons and institutions in Montenegro to

    challenge the army's authority is a smokescreen for their own

    anti-constitutional acts," the statement added, in apparent

    reference to Djukanovic's reformist policies. "The army and

    the navy will not cause any incidents but will act decisively

    whenever their members or property are threatened," the

    army's message concluded. PM

    [11] NATO'S CLARK WARNS OF MILOSEVIC MOVE AGAINST MONTNEGRO

    NATO's Supreme Commander in Europe General Wesley Clark said

    in Madrid on 15 March that Yugoslav President Slobodan

    Milosevic is "setting the stage for moving on to military

    action [against Montenegro]. We don't know whether he has

    taken a decision yet, but we are watching the situation

    closely," AP reported. PM

    [12] SERBIAN AUTHORITIES SHUT DOWN ANOTHER INDEPENDENT

    BROADCASTER

    Officials of the Yugoslav Telecommunications

    Ministry removed essential broadcasting equipment from the

    facilities of independent Television Pirot in southeastern

    Serbia on 16 March. It is not clear on what legal basis the

    authorities took the station off the air. Officials of the

    United Yugoslav Left of Mira Markovic, who is Milosevic's

    wife, have criticized the editorial policy of the station in

    recent weeks. In Belgrade on 15 March, Veran Matic, who heads

    the Association of Independent Electronic Media, said that

    the regime "is increasingly resorting to brute force" in its

    crackdown on the media (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 16 March

    2000). He added that the staff of the Radio Station B2-92

    have prepared unspecified "options" should the government try

    to take the broadcaster off the air. PM

    [13] ALBRIGHT: SERBIAN OPPOSITION NEEDS ONE LEADER

    U.S. Secretary

    of State Madeleine Albright told journalists in Banja Luka

    that the Serbian opposition should unite behind "one leader,

    not four," "Vesti" reported on 16 March. She stressed that

    change will come about in Serbia only through elections and

    that the opposition must be united in order to win such a

    vote. PM

    [14] U.S. SEIZES ARMS FROM ALBANIAN EXTREMISTS

    The U.S.

    military's Task Force Falcon said in a statement in Prishtina

    on 16 March that troops "have thoroughly cleared" an

    unspecified number of arms caches and storage areas used by

    ethnic Albanian extremists along the border between Kosova

    and Serbia. Members of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division, using

    helicopters and armored vehicles, seized more than 200

    uniforms, 22 crates of ammunition, two mortars, 28 hand

    grenades, seven rifles, six land mines, and unspecified other

    military supplies, AP reported. Nine people were detained.

    The statement added that the arms belonged to "fringe or

    extremist elements operating in [Kosova], Macedonia, or the

    Presevo Valley [of southern Serbia].... The results of these

    operations clearly demonstrate that Task Force Falcon will

    take all necessary actions to ensure that [Kosova] is not

    used as a staging base for exporting violence into the

    Presevo Valley or any attempts to extend violence back" into

    Kosova, the statement concluded. PM

    [15] ALBRIGHT WARNS ALBANIAN NATIONALISTS

    In recent days, several

    top U.S. officials have repeatedly told ethnic Albanians not

    to engage in violence in southwestern Serbia (see "RFE/RL

    Newsline," 15 March 2000). In Washington on 16 March,

    Albright said that ethnic Albanians "are in danger of losing

    our support" if they try to provoke the Serbian forces in

    Presevo. She added, however, that the recent activities by

    ethnic Albanian extremists cannot be compared with

    Milosevic's crackdown on Kosova in 1999. "I would say that

    the large majority of Kosovar Albanians are trying to put

    their lives together--and this is where the difference is--

    after a systematic, government-organized pillaging by the

    Milosevic Serbs.... [The regime tried] "to kill and

    ethnically cleanse the entire [Kosova]-Albanian nation," AP

    reported. Her spokesman, James Rubin, added: "We do not

    believe we are drifting toward a conflict with Kosovar

    Albanian insurgents.... We are working to limit the influence

    of extremists." PM

    [16] BULGARIA, ALBANIA CONCERNED ABOUT EXTREMISTS

    Bulgarian Prime

    Minister Ivan Kostov has recommended that former Kosova

    Liberation Army's Hashim Thaci use his influence to prevent

    any conflict in southwestern Serbia. In a 15 March letter,

    Kostov added that armed clashes in the region could have

    "consequences" for Bulgaria. The area is home to a small

    Bulgarian minority. Meanwhile in Tirana, Foreign Minister

    Paskal Milo said that the government has criticized ethnic

    Albanian extremists in southwestern Serbia. The government

    accused the nationalist leaders of being more concerned with

    their own careers than with the interests of the local

    population, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM

    [17] COMPROMISE IN MITROVICA

    Serbian guards on 16 March took up

    positions 30 meters from a bridge in Mitrovica that NATO

    peacekeepers secured the previous day (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"

    15 March 2000). The Serbs had been slated to man posts 100

    meters from the bridge, but French officers agreed to a

    compromise in an apparent effort to defuse tensions between

    NATO forces and local Serbs. AP reported that "for the first

    time" Serbian leader Oliver Ivanovic showed a conciliatory

    attitude toward the U.S., which many Serbs regard as their

    primary enemy. Ivanovic told the news agency of an "urgent

    need" for local Serbs to "establish contacts with the

    American side and improve their image with the Americans," AP

    reported. PM

    [18] MILOSEVIC BLASTS UN MISSION IN KOSOVA

    Milosevic said on 15

    March in Belgrade that the UN has not carried out its mandate

    in Kosova and should leave the province. "The UN, which

    undertook an obligation to stabilize the situation in

    [Kosova] by its presence there, has betrayed [our]

    confidence.... Rather than use its authority...to restrain

    terrorist gangs of ethnic Albanian extremists, we now have a

    situation in which terrorism takes place under the mission's

    patronage, even financed by the UN resources. Such a mission

    should be terminated as soon as possible," Tanjug reported.

    PM

    [19] DID TUDJMAN HAVE TELEPHONE LINE TO MILOSEVIC?

    "Jutarnji list"

    on 16 March quoted unnamed persons "who are very close to

    President Stipe Mesic" as saying Mesic's staff recently

    discovered that former President Franjo Tudjman had a "direct

    telephone line to Milosevic." Former Tudjman aide Hrvoje

    Sarinic told the paper that he has no knowledge of any "hot

    line to...Milosevic." Sarinic added, however, that he now

    realizes that Tudjman did many things about which he and

    other top aides were ignorant. Sarinic added that he is

    leaving Tudjman's Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) to join

    the Democratic Center recently formed by leading former HDZ

    moderates (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 March 2000). PM

    [20] CROATIA PAID HERZEGOVINIANS SECOND SALARIES

    Croatian Defense

    Minister Jozo Rados told the independent weekly "Globus" of

    17 March that Herzegovinian Croat leader Ante Jelavic and

    some 112 Herzegovinian military officers received salaries

    from Zagreb in addition to the ones they were paid in Bosnia.

    In Mostar, members of several war veterans' organizations

    wrote to the local HDZ to urge it to break with corrupt

    officials and "criminals" lest it lose the local elections

    slated for April, "Jutarnji list" reported on 16 March. PM

    [21] ETHNIC HUNGARIAN PARTY CRITICIZES ROMANIAN MINORITY

    POLICIES

    Representatives of the Hungarian Democratic

    Federation of Romania (UDMR) on 15 March criticized the EU

    and the U.S. for praising Romania's minority policies,

    Hungarian TV2 reported. At celebrations in Tirgu Mures

    marking the anniversary of the 1848 revolutions, UDMR

    chairman Bela Marko criticized European commissioners for

    trying to "convince" ethnic Hungarians in Romania "how good

    life is for us." While Marko acknowledged that conditions

    have improved for Hungarians in Romania, he said more needs

    to be done. "We need the free use of language, the right to

    independent decision-making and autonomy here, in our

    homeland," said Marko. UDMR honorary chairman Bishop Lazslo

    Toekes accused U.S. President Bill Clinton and OSCE

    minorities commissioner Max van der Stoel of ignoring the

    problems of the Hungarian minority. VG

    [22] MOLDOVAN, TRANSDNIESTRIAN PARLIAMENTS SIGN ACCORD

    The

    chairmen of the parliaments of Moldova and the breakaway

    Transdniester region signed a cooperation accord on 14

    March in Tiraspol, Flux reported the next day. Under the

    agreement, the two legislatures will exchange information

    and hold regular meetings. However, Moldovan deputy Vitalia

    Pavlicenco noted that the two sides remain far apart on the

    question of the Transdniester's status. VG

    [23] BULGARIAN PREMIER, OPPOSITION LEADER UPBEAT ON MEETING

    Bulgarian Prime Minister and Union of Democratic Forces

    leader Ivan Kostov and Akhmed Dogan, head of the opposition

    Movement for Democratic Rights and Freedoms, have both

    described their 14 March meeting as the beginning of a new

    era of dialogue between their parties, BTA reported. While

    Dogan said it is too early to talk about a "partnership"

    between the two parties, he said the meeting was a step

    toward establishing a "transparent European-style dialogue."

    VG

    [24] BULGARIA CRITICIZES 'LEAK' OF UN REPORT

    Bulgaria's acting

    permanent representative at the UN, Vladimir Sotirov, has

    lodged an official protest over the fact that a UN report

    on his country's alleged weapons sales to Angola's UNITA

    rebel group was "leaked" to the media before Bulgarian

    officials had a chance to see it, Bulgarian Radio reported

    on 15 March (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 March 2000). Prime

    Minister Ivan Kostov said on 15 March that the Bulgarian

    government will respond to the report after conducting an

    "in depth" study of it. VG


    [C] END NOTE

    [25] POLAND WANTS EU MEMBERSHIP BY 2003

    By Jan Maksymiuk

    Poland's Solidarity-led government has pledged to

    prepare the country for EU entry by 1 January 2003. Skeptical

    voices in Brussels about Warsaw's ability to be ready to join

    the EU by that date tend to provoke irate reactions from

    Polish coalition politicians. The most recent example of such

    a skeptical voice was European Commission Chairman Romano

    Prodi's remark in an interview with the 3 March "Financial

    Times."

    Prodi told the newspaper that the EU will take a tough

    stance with applicant countries from Eastern and Central

    Europe now that Austria's Freedom Party, which campaigned

    largely on an anti-EU enlargement ticket, has joined the

    Austrian government coalition. "We must tranquilize our

    public opinion and the public opinion of applicant countries.

    Otherwise, there will be hundreds of Austrian situations,"

    Prodi noted. According to the EU official, since the Freedom

    Party joined Austria's cabinet, the EU is "completely at

    risk" of having its operations blocked by a hostile

    government among its members. Moreover, this risk will grow

    with enlargement, he argued.

    Polish Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek commented on 6

    March that to give in to pressure from populists by delaying

    EU enlargement would be a "paradox." "The union has always

    been built on the basis of courage," he said. "If fear were

    to become its building material now, I would be very

    skeptical about its future."

    Jan Kulakowski, Poland's chief negotiator with the EU,

    told "Gazeta Wyborcza" on 8 March that Warsaw should not have

    to pay the price for developments in Austria, which he called

    "somebody else's problem." According to Kulakowski, in

    accepting new members, the EU should be guided by the

    "merits" of those countries rather than reactions from member

    countries.

    Kulakowski admitted that Warsaw is responsible for

    "delays" in the accession talks with the EU, but at the same

    time he accused Brussels of "lacking the good political will"

    to wrap up negotiations on the customs union, financial

    control, and joint foreign and security policies.

    Apparently bearing in mind such arguments, Prodi backed

    down somewhat from his original remark when he said on 9

    March that there will be no slowdown in EU enlargement,

    despite concerns raised by the Freedom Party in Austria. "It

    is our commitment to everybody in Europe that enlargement

    will take place in accordance with the criteria that have

    been laid down and, in line with that, we have been carrying

    out this process," he said, adding that Poland's criticism is

    "completely unjustified."

    As for Poland, it faces the difficult task of passing

    some 200 bills to adapt its legislation to EU standards. It

    must also persuade a growing number of domestic malcontents

    that EU entry will benefit the country in the long run,

    despite the sacrifices required now.

    The opposition post-Communist Democratic Left Alliance

    (SLD) shares the belief of the ruling Solidarity Electoral

    Action and the Freedom Union that EU entry is Poland's

    strategic goal and "raison d'etre." However, Poland's post-

    Communists are cautious about giving a concrete date for when

    Poland will be ready to join the EU. The reason, perhaps, can

    be found in the left wing's anticipated victory in next

    year's parliamentary elections. Some even predict that the

    SLD will gain a majority of seats in the parliament and form

    a one-party cabinet. In such a case, the SLD would be held

    fully responsible for any possible failure to observe the

    2003 deadline for EU entry.

    Meanwhile, the strongest opposition to the EU within

    Poland comes from Poland's radical farmers' union Self-

    Defense, whose populist leader, Andrzej Lepper, once compared

    the EU to a "kolkhoz" administered by Brussels. Lepper's

    well-publicized argument that the EU does not treat Poland

    like a partner but like a market for EU products is echoed by

    Polish farmers. Lepper has announced his intention to run in

    this year's presidential elections and build a parliamentary

    "third force" based on his Self-Defense union. Some even fear

    that Lepper may become Poland's Haider.

    In comparison with the EU, Poland's agricultural sector

    is overmanned, under-invested, and unable to compete on

    international markets. Radical--and painful--changes are

    needed to meet at least minimal EU requirements in the

    agricultural sphere. So far, however, the Solidarity-led

    government has avoided any tough decisions in that sector and

    has more or less complied with farmers' demands for more

    subsidies.

    Another barrier on Poland's path to the EU is the lack

    of a consistent and well-advertised information policy

    explaining and promoting European integration goals among the

    general public. The recently announced plan to hold a

    referendum on EU entry in Swidnica, a town of 65,000 in

    southeastern Poland, this summer is a good opportunity to

    conduct such an information campaign. A poll late last year

    found that only 46 percent of Poles support joining the EU, a

    disappointing decline from 64 percent in early 1998.

    16-03-00


    Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
    URL: http://www.rferl.org


    Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
    Back to Top
    Copyright © 1995-2023 HR-Net (Hellenic Resources Network). An HRI Project.
    All Rights Reserved.

    HTML by the HR-Net Group / Hellenic Resources Institute, Inc.
    rferl2html v1.01 run on Thursday, 16 March 2000 - 16:33:09 UTC