RFE/RL NEWSLINE 
Vol. 1, No. 131, 3 October 1997

SOLANA SAYS NEW NATO MEMBERS MUST MEET ENTRY COSTS. NATO
Secretary-General Javier Solana has told top defense officials from
Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary that they will have to bear
most of the costs of joining the alliance. Solana met with the Central
European officials on 2 October in Maastricht. U.S. Defense Secretary
William Cohen also stressed that the new members must
demonstrate their willingness to pay for expansion and not depend
on wealthier members.  Polish Deputy Defense Minister Andzej
Karkoszka, addressing an annual NATO gathering, said Warsaw is
willing and able to pay the costs. Czech Defense Minister Miroslav
Vyborny promised defense spending will double in the next two
years. His Hungarian counterpart, Gyorgy Keleti, said Budapest will
allocate 1.51 percent of GDP for defense spending in 1998 and 1.81
percent by the year 2001.

ZHIRINOVSKY MAKES "OFFER" TO HUNGARY. In an interview with the
Hungarian daily "Nepszabadsag,"  Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the
nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, has offered to help
Hungary regain territories that are now part of Ukraine and have  a
large Hungarian minority. The territories belonged to the former
Czechoslovakia between the two World Wars and were briefly
annexed by Hungary during World War II.  Zhirinovsky, who is in
Budapest on a private visit, also warned that Hungary "would swarm
with spies and provocateurs" if it joins NATO, AFP reported on 2
October. In other news, Hungarian Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs on
2 October presented a piece of the barbed wire fence that separated
communist-era Hungary from Austria to the George Bush Library in
Houston, "Nepszabadsag" reported.

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