NID: HUNGARY: REFORMERS PUSHING ECONOMIC TIES TO WEST

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe: A 30-Year Legacy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06826738
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2019
• Publication Date: April 22, 1989

Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826738
NR Record
HUNGARY: Reformers Pushing Economic Ties to West
A party-government economic advisory committee led by reform-
minded Politburo member Nycrs is pushing for major reorientation
toward the West of the troubled Hungarian economy. The committee
will recommend seeking associate membership in the EC after 1992.
reducing trade with the Eastern Bloc, and settling all trade with the
USSR in dollars within two to five years
The program will also call or lining remaining
restrictions on private enterprise and for moving faster 7 reduce
subsidies and close insolvent enterprises.
Comment: The report is likely to spark considerable public debate,
especially the recommendations on expanding the private sector and
cutting subsidies, in part because of increasing popular pressure to
ease austerity. The committee probably leaked details of its
recommendations to build momentum for broader economic and
political liberalization, and it may be trying to gain support for its
program in the West. including US economic assistance. It is not
clear, however, whether the committee has faced thorny near-term
problems like making the forint convertible or improving the
competitiveness of Hungarian manufactures, and the EC is not likely
to welcome a bid for association.
����
9
'ftp�Sgget
TCS 27939-�-.
22 April 1989
Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826738