Hungarian American Coalition News, 1992 (1. évfolyam, 2. szám)
1992 / 2. szám
Gabcikovo Dam Project By Katica Awakumovits In defiance of international pressure, authorities in Slovakia have begun rerouting the Danube River. The Gabcikovo dam project includes a dam at the Slovakian town of Cunovo which diverts the river into a 19- mile concrete canal. Environmentally, the dam is a disaster its operation is drying up a significant section of the Danube and has caused the water level to drop in the river’s tributaries. Destruction of this extended water system threatens the local fishing and agricultural economy, and endangers the drinking water supply of millions. Local villagers in this border region report that fish and crab populations are dying off and wells have already dried up. Since the Danube constitutes the Slovak-Hungarian border in this region, its diversion also amounts to a violation of Hungary’s territorial integrity. Environmental and political considerations aside, the dam makes little sense economically: even when completed, it would supply Czechoslovakia with no more than three percent of its electrical needs. Backedby Austrian financiers, construction has been underway since 1977, when the project began as a joint undertaking of the Communist governments of Czechoslovakia and Hungary. The project’s potentially harmful consequences have long been known and were articulated by opponents to the dam during the 1980’s, both in Czechoslovakia and Hungary. In late 1989, the crumbling Hungarian Communist regime finally agreed to halt construction of project sites in Hungary, including the original upstream reservoir and the Nagymaros dam. Earlier this year, the new democratic Hungarian government renounced the 1977 agreement altogether. But today, though the Communist regimes are gone, the Slovakian government headed by ultra-nationalist Vladimir Meciar is proceeding with construction at an accelerated pace. Meciar has ignored repeated warnings by Hungary, the Czech Republic and Germany that Slovakia’s unilateral action on the dam project is threatening to isolate Slovakia from much-needed international support as it prepares for independence. Meciar’s only response has been to accuse Hungary of harboring “irredentist” intentions. The Hungarian government emphasizes that the debate surrounding Gabcikovo is less a bilateral political feud than a combination of ecological, economic and legal issues of concern to all of Europe. In seeking a diplomatic solution according to international standards, Hungary has invoked mechanisms of the International Court of Justice, various EC organs, and the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). Monitoring the situation has been rendered difficult because of continual developments at the dam site as well as in the official negotiations aimed at finding a solution which is acceptable to both sides. In November, Hungary and the government of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic agreed to submit their case to the Intema-A massive and irreversible ecological disaster will take place in Central Europe within three weeks, but the world at large has taken little notice. The Danube River, Europe’s second largest river, will be diverted into a cement-lined canal, destroying thousands of acres of wetlands, eliminating hundreds of species, wreaking havoc on the lives of the people in the area, and violating international treaties. The Gabcikovo hydroelectric plant, a remnant of the Stalinist preoccupation with gigantic, inefficient projects, began as a joint Czechoslovak/Hungarian project in 1977. In the midst of the transition from communism to democracy, Hungary acknowledged the adverse effects the project would have and withdrew its support. Following the Velvet Revolution, the federal government of Czechoslovakia expressed little enthusiasm for the project. Federal President Vaclav Havel called it “a night-STATEMENT mare.” The government of Slovakia, however, has stubbornly pushed on to complete the Gabcikovo dam despite vigorous opposition from Slovak conservationists. At the end of October, the Slovak government will divert the Danube, near the point where it turns south into Hungary, and redirect it into an artificial canal on Slovak territory. This unilateral diversion will have serious political ramifications: international treaties establish the Danube as the border between Hungary and Slovakia. Moving the river violates not only those treaties but also the territorial integrity of Hungary. Tragically, the diversion of the river will also destroy the environment of the region. Since the sides of the canal are sealed, the river will be isolated from groundwater, eliminating the wetlands of the western Danube and endangering 200 plant and anitional Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. It remains to be seen whether Slovakia will abide by this agreement after it becomes independent on January 1, 1993. Hungarian-Americans Mobilize to Protest the Gabcikovo Dam Project In mid-October, as the scheduled date for the diversion of the Danube River neared, groups of Hungarian-Americans around the country initiated activities to bring wider attention to the ensuing tragedy and to go on record in protest of plans to divert the Danube River. In Seattle a group of some 50 people gathered to protest against the Gabcikovo dam project and collect signatures for a petition addressed to S lovakia’s Prime Minister, Vladimir Meciar. Petitions were also circulated in the Cleveland area and in several Florida communities, including Sarasota and Bradenton. Protest demonstrations were held in New York City, attended by nearly 900 people, and in Washington, D.C., where some 50 people picketed outside the Czecho-Slovak Embassy. Representatives of the organization Friends of the Earth were present at the Seattle and Washington, D.C. demonstrations. The Hungarian American Coalition also joined the effort to bring wider attention to the Danube controversy by sending letters to the major television networks and by disseminating the following statement among environmental organizations and the media. mal species. The reservoir formed by the dam will eliminate 30 islands and at least 24 square miles of forest. Changes in the water table may allow oil from a nearby refinery to seep through the ground toward populated areas. The stagnant water left where the Danube now flows will pollute the drinking water of up to 3 million people. Our media, with few exceptions (see Condé Nast TRAVELER, March 1992), have remained silent on this imminent catastrophe. Protests from both sides of the border continue to be ignored. The Hungarian American Coalition hopes that reason will prevail and the course of the Danube will not be altered. Washington, D.C. October 7, 1992 Endorsed by the Audubon Society and Friends of the Earth. Winter 1992 • Hungarian American Coalition News • 3
