The EU formally began membership talks with Hungary. Other nations considered in this largest planned expansion of the EU in its 40-year history were Cyprus, Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia.
In Hungarian parliamentary elections, only 134 of 386 available seats went to the Socialist Party. The Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Party, a Center-Right faction that won only 20 seats in 1994, controlled the new government by means of 148 seats in a coalition with other Right parties. The major objective of the new Hungarian government was admission to the EU in the near future. Fidesz leader Viktor Orban was chosen prime minister of the coalition government.
