Read the details of the new lawsuit in several
language versions:
Magyar
(Hungarian) | English | German
| French

Dragging on since 1993, the so called “Danube Law Suit,” which is also
the first international environmental lawsuit, has reached another
important milestone, following the 1997 first Ruling in the
case by the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Three Hungarian citizens have submitted the attached Petition to the
Hungarian Constitutional Court. The Petition requests the Court:

First, to determine the legal parameters of the kind of
agreement the Hungarian Government may accept in its negotiations with
Slovakia,

Second, in the event Slovakia refuses to agree to those
parameters, it wants the Hungarian Government to initiate a second round
of the lawsuit before the International Court of Justice in The
Hague.

The Petition cites three documents as defining parameters for future
negotiations:

1. Paragraph 5 of the Hungarian
Constitution, which obliges the Government to safeguard the nation’s
territorial integrity.
2. The Treaty of Rio, which obliges the
Government to protect the flora and fauna of Szigetköz (Region of A
Thousand Islands) and to subordinate energy production to ecological
considerations.
3. The Ruling by the International Court of Justice
in The Hague, which declared illegal both the blocking of the riverbed
at Cunovo (Dunacsuny) and the diversion of the Danube onto Slovak
territory

The text on this Danube home-page been prepared to energize world
public opinion to defend the unique and ancient Danube wetlands and to
show that there is a solution (the “Compromise
Plan”), which can satisfy the legitimate desires of all the parties.

The Court has ruled that: the “Project’s impact upon, and
implications for the environment are..a key issue.. require the parties,
in carrying out their obligations to ensure that the quality of water in
the Danube is not impaired and that nature is protected.”

Please help us
reach these goals by contacting the World Court and
your local media.

Best regards,

Bela Liptak
Liptakbela@aol.com