SOVIET UNION EASTERN EUROPE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00865A001100290001-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 15, 2006
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: June 12, 1975
• Content Type: NOTES

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Soviet Union
Eastern Europe
State Department review completed
Secret
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June 12, 1975
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SOVIET UNION - EASTERN EUROPE
June 12, 1975 25X1
Romania's Hungarian Minority . . . . . . . . . . 3
CEMA Price Negotiations for 1975
Still Under Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
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Romania's ';s,Hun:gari:an Minority
The nearly two million ethnic Hungarians living
in Romania constitute the largest minority group
in any East European country. TherEe is a legacy of
animosity between Hungarians and Romanians, but the
US embassy in Bucharest believes that Ceausescu's
stringent domestic policies have not been carried
out at the expense of the Hungarian minority.
The embassy points out that:
--Regime policies such as the ban on lodging
tourists in private dwellings applies to
all citizens, not just Hungarians.
--The 1974 newsprint and publishing cutbacks
were evenly applied to Magyar and non-
Magyar publications.
--The trial of Magyar writer Zoltan Kallos
was not a case of cultural oppression,
but of punishment for homosexuality.
The embassy also reports that some ethnic Hun-
garian intellectuals "appreciate the political am-
biguities" in which they operate. While eager for
greater cultural latitude, they are reportedly
equally cool to Hungary's pro-Soviet posture and
the prospect of more Soviet influence in Transyl-
vania.
Some Hungarians in and outside Romania take
a different view of the situation. Budapest has
nevertheless been under pressure from nationalists
at home to exercise its self-appointed role as
protector of the Hungarians in Transylvania. A
particularly sensitive issue is the use of the
Hungarian language in schools. Budapest has, in
June 12, 1975
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fact, been working behind the scenes in an effort
to persuade the Romanians to correct certain "dis-
tortions" in history courses and texts and to im-
port more books from Hungary.
The embassy points out--and we agree--that
Romania's long-term policy is to assimilate the
Magyar minority. Rather than acting directly against
the Magyars, however, the Romanians hope that fur-
ther industrialization will increase mobility,
mix the population, and eventually ero he identity
of the Hungarian minority in Romania.
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CEMA Price- Negotiiations: for:. :1:9:75 S;t;i-ll: U:nd-er. Way
Price changes for CEMA trade this year report-
edly are still being negotiated but will apply retro-
actively to January 1, 1975. Under the new system,
each country will hold bilateral talks with its
CEMA trading partners to set prices based on 1972-74
average world market prices.
Prices established by each country in negotia-
tions with the Soviet Union are generally being
used as a_guide for further negotiations between
East European countries. Beginning in 1976, prices
will be changed annually and will be based on the
previous five year world market averages.
As expected, 1975 price increases announced
for fuels and raw materials are outdistancing price
boosts for other commodities. The price of Soviet
crude oil has been hiked 140 percent, natural
gas 100 percent, electric power 50 percent, and pig
iron 58 percent. Polish prices for consumer goods
and Hungarian prices for machinery and equipment
sold to the Soviet Union will increase by only 25
percent and 15 percent respectively.
Poland and Romania will be least affected by
higher Soviet prices. Price increases in Soviet-
Romanian trade should balance; Romania, which im-
ports no Soviet oil, will export about 100,000 tons
of petroleum to the USSR this year. For Poland, a
doubling in the price of coal exports will offset
more than 60 percent of the increased prices of
all fuel and power imports from the USSR.
Hungary has been the only East European coun-
try to reveal details of price talks with other
East European countries. The resource-poor Hun-
garians have concluded agreements with the USSR,
June 12, 1975
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Poland, and Czechoslovakia. Prices of Hungarian
goods were raised less than the prices of its
partner countries, resulting in terms of trade
declines ranging from an estimated 10-15 percent
with the USSR to 5 percent with Czechoslovakia.
Price negotiations with Bulgaria and Romania are
apparently still continuing, but are unlikely to
favor the Hungarians. The East Germans and Hun-
garians will not change their bilateral trade
prices this year, probably because the price
changes would be offsetting.
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