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From: Peter Durcansky <du...@poboxes.com>
Subject: RFE/RL Newsline CZ/SK Selection No. 45
Date: Friday, March 08, 2002 6:12 PM


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 6, No. 45, Part II, 8 March 2002

           A selection from the RFE/RL Newsline
          --------------------------------------

RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
___________________________________________________________
RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 6, No. 45, Part II, 8 March 2002

* FIRST GROUP OF CZECH SOLDIERS DEPLOYED IN KUWAIT

CZECH, TURKISH PRESIDENTS BOTH FAVOR NATO 'BIG BANG' EXPANSION.
Visiting Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and his Czech
counterpart Vaclav Havel told journalists on 7 March that they both
support inviting Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia,
Slovenia, and Romania to join NATO, CTK and international agencies
reported. NATO is expected to issue invitations to new members during
its November summit in Prague. Sezer also reiterated his country's
commitment to joining the EU. Both presidents said they strongly
support the international struggle against terrorism. Asked about his
position on Iraq, Havel said the regime of President Saddam Hussein
"poses a threat to the world, as well as to its own people." At a
state dinner, Havel said Turkey has demonstrated that the struggle
against international terrorism is not a struggle against Islam.
Turkey, he said, participates in that struggle, while it "maintains
respect for the Islamic traditions. " Sezer also met with Prime
Minister Milos Zeman, with whom he mainly discussed economic ties. MS

FIRST GROUP OF CZECH SOLDIERS DEPLOYED IN KUWAIT. A group of 20
soldiers from an antichemical warfare unit left for Kuwait on 7
March, CTK reported. The group is to prepare the ground for the
arrival of the rest of the 250-strong contingent by mid-March. The
unit is to remain in Kuwait for six months. MS

TEMELIN OPPONENTS FIND NEW ALLY. Former Soviet President Mikhail
Gorbachev has joined the opposition to the controversial Czech
Temelin nuclear power plant, CTK reported on 7 March, citing the
Austrian Stop Temelin organization. The Stop Temelin website showed
Gorbachev signing its book in Linz. A spokesman for the organization
said the former Soviet president has been invited to participate in a
planned demonstration against Temelin in May, at a border crossing
between Austria and the Czech Republic. MS

NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL LINKS SLOVAKIA'S MEMBERSHIP IN ALLIANCE TO
ELECTION OUTCOME... NATO Secretary-General Lord George Robertson told
journalists in Bratislava on 7 March that if the Slovaks "want to be
in NATO, they must vote for parties that will take Slovakia into
NATO," international news agencies reported. "It's as simple as
that," Robinson said after talks with President Rudolf Schuster.
Robertson said the Slovaks, who will vote in parliamentary elections
in November, are benefiting from "the most precious of all democratic
gifts, after generations without it, and this is the right to vote
for their own future." Schuster said that in his country the
government is "traditionally" formed by the party with the largest
share of votes but added, in what is clearly a hint at the possible
victory of Vladimir Meciar's Movement for a Democratic Slovakia
(HZDS), that "this does not necessarily have to be the case." He said
he is convinced that, regardless of the electoral outcome,
"Slovakia's strategic orientation to NATO and the EU will continue."
MS

...PROMPTING REACTION FROM THE HZDS. HZDS spokeswoman Zaneta
Pittnerova said in response to Robertson's and Schuster's comments
that her party "has repeatedly stated, and states again, that it is
not against NATO and that it pursues policies of integration" into
the organization, CTK reported. She said Schuster's statement was
"quite unusual," adding that she believes the president "will respect
the will and aspirations of Slovak citizens, [as they will be] fully
expressed in the free and democratic elections of 2002." MS

SLOVAK OFFICIAL SAYS BENES DECREES WON'T THREATEN EU MEMBERSHIP...
Foreign Ministry State Secretary Jaroslav Chlebo said on 7 March that
his country's "long-term view is that no restitution, reparations, or
compensation claims linked to the Benes Decrees are acceptable," TASR
reported. Chlebo said Slovakia is "satisfied" that the decrees will
not pose any danger to his country and the Czech Republic's accession
to the EU. He added that neither Germany nor Austria had raised the
issue in bilateral talks. Chlebo called Hungarian Premier Viktor
Orban's mention of the decrees in connection with the EU negotiations
"very unfortunate." He said he wants to remind Hungary that after
World War II the agreement signed between the two countries at Srbske
Pleso provided for an exchange of population and the settlement of
related property issues. MS

HUNGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER COMMENTS ON BENES DECREES. Foreign
Minister Janos Martonyi said in Vienna on 7 March that Hungary will
not link the abolition of the Benes Decrees with the Czech and Slovak
accession to the EU or with cooperation among the Visegrad Four,
Hungarian media reported. Martonyi described as "erroneous" an
article in the daily "Die Presse" that said an "axis" is emerging
over the Benes Decrees between his country, Austria, and the German
state of Bavaria. He added, however, that "inconsistencies" exist
between "EU norms" and the Benes decrees, and that the Czech Republic
and Slovakia "will have to sort this out." MS

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