RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 114, 16 June 1998

HUNGARIAN FAR-RIGHT PARTY CAN FORM PARLIAMENTARY GROUP. The
Constitutional Court on 15 June ruled that the Hungarian
Justice and Life Party (MIEP) can form a parliamentary
group, despite house rules requiring parties to have at
least 15 parliamentary seats to form a faction. The court
ruled that "every party that passes the 5 percent threshold
has the right to form a parliamentary group and the house
rule prohibiting this is unconstitutional." MIEP won 14
seats in the May elections. Also on 15 June, MIEP chairman
Istvan Csurka was elected the leader of the party's
parliamentary group. In other news, the parliamentary group
of the Alliance of Free Democrats elected former party
chairman Gabor Kuncze as its leader. MSZ

NATO DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL IN ROMANIA. Klaus-Peter
Kleiber on 15 June told Prime Minister Radu Vasile that the
decision on whether to admit Romania to NATO in a second
enlargement wave may well depend on the progress of the
reform process in Romania, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau
reported. Vasile told the guest that he does not expect
Romanian-Hungarian relations to deteriorate as a result of
the change of government in Budapest. After meeting Foreign
Minister Andrei Plesu, Kleiber said a NATO peace-keeping
process in Kosova could well be open to those countries
taking part in the Partnership for Peace. MS

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