Poll watch: Hungary on course for accession ‘Yes’

Date: 03/04/03

QUICK-FIRE 'gangsta' rapper Dopeman and players from two rival football teams have joined forces to convince their fellow Hungarians that joining the EU is in their best interests.

These are part of an array of celebrities taking part in an advertising campaign urging a 'Yes' vote in the country's 12 April referendum.

And a tram, coloured 'Union blue', has taken to the roads of Budapest in the publicity blitz.

According to new estimates, Hungary is on course to be the third candidate state to say 'Yes' (Malta and Slovenia have already done so) to EU membership.

The Tarki Social Research Institute has predicted that 75-85 of those who intend to go to the polls will vote in favour of entry. But a study by the institute also finds that most Hungarians believe accession will be followed by price rises and that there is widespread concern that increased joblessness could be a result of membership.

Meanwhile, domestic issues in Poland are continuing to have a bearing on its EU debate.

President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who generally refrains from political squabbling, caused a major surprise last month by inferring that embattled premier Leszek Miller should contemplate stepping down if his leadership jeopardizes chances of success in the 8 June referendum.

Miller has been bruised both by defections from his ruling coalition and an attempt by a film producer linked to his party to let Agora, the country's largest media publisher, influence new press laws in return for a €16.4 million bribe.

Last weekend, though, he sought to deflect attention away from the controversy and instead focus members of his party, the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), on the importance of bringing Poland into the Union. "Defeat in the referendum is tantamount to the defeat of the SLD," he said.

Theoretically, Malta's place in the EU is secure because a majority, albeit a slim one, of voters endorsed membership last month. Yet an imminent general election (polling date: 12 April) is turning into a re-run of the referendum as the opposition Labour Party has pledged the island will not be joining the EU if it emerges victorious.

Labour supporters and those from the ruling Nationalist Party appear locked in an increasingly bitter row, with each side allegedly defacing campaign posters erected by the other.

Lithuanian President Roland Paksas, meanwhile, has praised religious figures who voice support for the EU: "I would like to thank the high priests of the church, who have encouraged people to vote for Lithuania's future in the united Europe by extending their fatherly invitation full of insight," he said in a TV broadcast, detailing preparations for the country's 11 May referendum.

The latest opinion poll in Slovakia suggests that the number of pro-EU voters has risen slightly. Conducted by UVVM, an agency attached to the national statistics office, it finds that 72.2 of voters plan to tick the 'Yes' box on 16-17 May, an increase of nearly 2 from last month. But the poll also found that the number of people planning to exercise their right to vote has fallen to 66.9 - a drop of 5.

An array of celebrities is taking part in an advertising campaign urging a 'Yes' vote in Hungary's EU referendum on 12 April 2003.