1988. 271. szám (1988.10.30.) / HU_BFL_XIV_47_3

Magyar Környezetvédelmi Alap

'■ FOUNDATION TO PROTECT THE HUNGÁRIÁN ENVIRONMENT

52 The Drive Mantions, Fulham Road, London SW6 5JD Tel: (01) 736-8314

His Ecellency,

Herr Alois Mock,

Llinister of Foreign Affairs,

Vienna

The Nagymaros dam! will create permanent strategic threat to the Hungárián Capital as it could be easily destroyed in the age of precision bombing. The breaching of the dam will result in the flooding of the Hungárián Capital except in escepticnal law water levels. There is no other Capital on the earth which would be exposed to such mán made strategic dangers, and which would be tolerated by an independent country.

The dam at Bős will undermine the existence of the Hungárián minority in the Csallóköz on the northern side of the Danube as even according to the Bohemian Academy of Sciences it will dry out the best alluvial farm lands in Central Europe on the island. The same kind of projects used by the Romanians in Transylvania led to the distruction of the Hungárián minorities there deplored all over the world including the v«ry authorities, which undermine the existence of the Hungárián minority in the Csallóköz

The Danube is the river, which connects the two parts of Europe and which connects Hungary to the continent and the freedom of navigation on the Danube has been guaranteed by international treaties. The building of the dams at Bős and at Nagymaros will make the hydrofoil traffic practically impossible because the Crossing of the two dams will require approximatively four hours, more than the entire journey between Vienna and Budapest. It vias pijecisely its short duration and beauty which made this hydrofoil traffic so popular all over in Europe.

The building of the dams will make similarly impossible the navigation by long chains of linked barges, which was the traditional traffic on the Danube at the time, when the international treaties guaranteeing the freedom of the navigation were signed. It would be however just the long chains of linked barges which could bring Hungárián tnerchandise to Germany and Western Europe to secure much needed hard currency fór the Hungárián balance of payments deficits as deep merging see-going vessels will nőt be able to travel above Vienna in the forese?=able future.

The building of the dam at Nagymaros will completely spoil the breath- taking natufcal beauty of the Danube Bánd, it will violate the memory of the greatest Hungárián kings’court and the birthplace of the national saint of Poland Queen Jadwiga at Visegrad, where the Hungárián Angevins, Charles Róbert, Louis the Great and Matthias Corvinus resided.

The tcmist industry is most easily the most profitable,possibly the only certainly profitable branch of the Hungárián economy providing large flows of hard currencies. It is however the Danube Bend, which is the only unparalléi led beauty spot in Hungary, what the tourásts could visit, because the rest of the country is almost completely fiat. Therefore the building of the dams will have disastrous effects on the Hungárián tourist industry, in which so much Austrian Capital was invested, as foreign visitors will nőt be interested to study the encro&chment of the industrial landscape on the Danube Bend.

J7