BUDAPEST Hungary AP The Hungarian premier criticized the European Union Tuesday for procrastinating while only a few blocks away the European Union inaugurated an information center in downtown Budapest. Speeking at a business development meeting Prime Minister Viktor Orban called for better dialogue with the EU and a concrete timetable for accession by those former communist countries who are likely to be the first to join the EU. ``It is difficult to understand why it took eight years to get into NATO or why it is not obvious that Hungary shouldn't join the EU as soon as possible why there is no deadline or timeframe for our accession process'' Orban said. Hungary was among the first former communist countries along with the Czech Republic and Poland to be invited to join NATO and is expected to become a full member within the next few months. Hungary is also among the first nations along with Poland Czech Republic Estonia and Slovenia under consideration for the first round of EU enlargement. But Orban said there are grounds to fear the EU will seek to exempt Hungary and other new members from standard EU regulations for an extended period of time beyond what they feel is necessary. The exemptions known as derogations are aimed at ensuring the balance between existing EU employment and economic standards while still participating in most political cultural and other organizations. ``There is a new fear now in Hungary and not only in Hungary but in the Czech Republic and Poland as well that probably the European Union will ask for more difficult derogations than Hungary will ask for'' Orban said speaking in English. Orban said Hungary and the other prospective members should not be exempted from free movement of labor agricultural policy and access to structural funds used to help underdeveloped regions. ``In these three fields it seems major requests will come from the EU's side that is it will have proposals to depart from regulations within the integration'' Orban said. Existing EU members are worried that without these exemptions vast numbers of workers will flood the West in search of jobs cheap agricultural produce will flood the existing market. For its own part Hungary would like to set up exemptions preventing EU nationals from buying arable land in the country since real estate in Hungary is very cheap compared to Western prices. Also Tuesday the EU opened an information center in the same building as Budapest's city hall aimed at familiarizing people with the institutions of the EU. The center offers services to people interested in EU-related topics such as regulations policies and legislation from agriculture to security and foreign policy through EU databases via the Internet CD-ROMs video tapes as well as read books and brochures. pvs/ab/me APW19981201.0791.txt.body.html APW19981201.0706.txt.body.html