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BULGARIA: Hardliners Purged at Snap Plenum
New General Secretary Petur Mladenor :emored the remaining
hardliners from the leadership yesterday at a hastily scheduled Central
Committee plenum, responding to public demands and paving the way
for more reform.
Mladenor dropped five Politburo members and 26 Central
Committee members. reinstated former Politburo and Secretariat
member Alcksandur Lilov, and elevated the Minister of Finance to
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NR Record
POLAND: Catholic Church Legalized
Poland s legislature esterda
Church
w recognizing the Catholic
giving the Pope
Inc right to name all bishops, the church the ri ht to own ro ert in
its own name, and a free Catholic press.
Warsaw a
A formal exchan e of ambassadors between
the Vatican
is expected later this year.
Comment: Giving the church legal status is an indicator of the
regime's desperation for popular support, most immediately to
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HUNGARY: Reformers Take Over Party Leadership
The capture of the Communist party's leading positions this weekend
by members of the party's reform wing ensures that Hungary will
continue moving toward political pluralism. New party chairman
Rerso Nyers, an advocate of market-style economic reforms and '
democratic political change, will chair a new four-member presidium
that will serve as the party's highest policymaking body. Other
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CZE(.IIOSLOVAKIA: Oppusithin Growing Daily
.4/though the hardliners still appear to be contemplating the use offorce
to maintain their power, the burgeoning of the apposition makes the
prospect of success in repressive measures increasingly unlikely,
Some 300.000 demonstrators called for the ouster of the hardline
Communist regime in Prague yesterday. and 51).000 protesters heard
Alexander Dubcek. party leader during the Prague Spring reform
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HUNGARY: Election Campaign Heating Up
_ Polls indicate the pro-Western, market-oriented Free Democrats may
be best placed to head a coalition that would form Hmagary's fast
non-Communist government in more than 40 years after the election
on 25 March
The liberal Alliance of Free Democrats has caught up with the
centrist Hungarian Democratic Forum, according to Hungary's
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USSR: Lithuanian Decision Will Reverberate Widely
The Lithuanian Supreme Soviet's more yesterday to legalize a
multiparty political system in the republic will help raise the issue of the
Communist Party's role to the top of national and republic le i
agendas; it will further erode the party's status and prestige.
The Estonian party Central Committee yesterday endorsed removing
the constitutional guarantee of thc republic party's leading role, a
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CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Regime Increasingly Fearful
Czechoslovak hardliners, showing signs of panic, plan to crack down
hard on demonstrations held tomorrow and Monday to mark the
anniversary of the Soviet invasion in 1968.
Comment: Evidently alarmed by the events unfolding in Poland and
Hungary, the leadership has decided it must suppress these protests to
show the party rank and file and the population that it is determined
to stay in power.
A massive show of
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POLAND: New Government To Be Announced
Premier Mazowiecki will present his cabinet nominations today, and
the Polish parliament is expected to complete its debate and confirm
the Solidarity-led government next Tuesday. The Communists will
retain the defense, interior, and, most likely, foreign affairs portfolios
but otherwise will yield their levers of control to Solidarity, which will
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EAST GERMANY: Free Election Set Roundtable Shares Power
In roundtable talks yesterday, Communist and opposition leaders agreed
that a free election will be held on 6 May; the � als r ed to oversee the
government and legislature in the interim.
The roundtable participants insist on being ,nvolved in all important
decisions and retain the right to submit their own proposals to the
public. l-lead of state Gerlach proposed that the roundtable decide
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POLAND:
Mazowiecki
Reportedly Asked To
Form Government
Situation Report
President Jaruzelski apparently has asked Solidarity adviser
Mazowiecki to form a government; a Solidarity-led government
might offer weary Poles new hope for genuine power sharing but
would still face staggering economic problems and probably stiff
bureaucratic resistance. Jaruzelski is waiting for the results of a
potentially stormy Communist party Central Committee plenum that
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