Taraba: Slovakia and Hungary Nearing Agreement on Gabcikovo Construction

Bratislava, 24 June (TASR) - Slovakia and Hungary are almost agreed on ending a dispute regarding the construction of the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros waterworks system that has been dragging for many years, Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) said on Tuesday. Subsequently, the governments' consent and a change in the international treaty will be required, said Taraba, adding that they will present the agreement to the public very soon. "The agreement we're preparing has a great potential to ensure that Slovakia will have tidy, balanced and transparent relations with Hungary, and that the Danube River won't divide, but unite us," said Taraba, adding that they won't keep the agreement a secret. The minister compared the agreement to a divorce. It will not be beneficial for either party, but it will be fair, he said. The treaty on the construction and operation of the Gabcikovo–Nagymaros Waterworks System was signed in Budapest in 1977 by the prime ministers of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Hungarian People's Republic. Hungary withdrew from the project in 1989, by which time most of the work on the Slovak side had already been completed. In 1997, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled on the dispute between the Hungary and Slovakia, confirming the validity of the 1977 treaty and Slovakia as a successor to Czechoslovakia, while declaring the construction of an alternative solution to be lawful. ko/mcs