Le canal Bystraya (Ukraine) contesté par l'UE et la Roumanie
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Danube mouth to become great European transport junction, Kuchma sure
Vilkovo, August 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma is sure that the mouth of the Danube River will turn to a great European transport crossroads.
"In the future ... the mouth of the largest river of Europe may turn to a great European transport junction," Kuchma said during the opening of the Danube-Black Sea deep-water navigation canal.
The building of the canal, which cuts through a UN-designated environmental reserve, has irked other European countries, particularly Romania. Ukraine has defended the project, saying it has show that the canal will not damage the environment, and that it is vital to Ukraine's economic interests.
With the opening of the canal, Ukraine will also challenge Romania's virtual monopoly on the flow of Danube-Black Sea shipping.
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EU asks Ukraine to halt canal
From news reports AP, Reuters
Thursday, August 26, 2004
BRUSSELS The European Union urged Ukraine on Wednesday to halt plans to extend a canal through the environmentally sensitive Danube River Delta, warning that the project risked harming the Union's relations with the former Soviet republic.
The Union has repeatedly called on Ukraine to stop work on the Bystroye Canal, which would form a waterway between the Black Sea and the Ukrainian section of the delta, until completion of an environmental assessment.
The Union said it would "welcome reassurances from the Ukrainian government confirming its intention not to proceed further with the project."
But the union stopped short of threatening sanctions against Ukraine if the project went ahead.
"We can't start saber-rattling," said an EU spokesman, Jean-Christophe Filori, "but it is not a welcome development, the building of this canal. It's not going to help our relations with Ukraine."
Environmental activists have warned that the plan to deepen and widen the 170-kilometer, or 105-mile, canal endangers one of Europe's most important wetland sites and would destroy habitats for tens of thousands of birds, including endangered species.
Neighboring Romania fears the canal could cause water levels to change. More than 500 protesters marched in Bucharest on Tuesday, demanding a stop to the project.
Ukraine argues that the canal is needed to improve access to the Black Sea and strengthen the local economy.
"It's a matter of protecting our economic interests," a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Markian Lubkivskiy, told reporters in Kiev. (AP, Reuters)
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Danube mouth to become great European transport junction, Kuchma sure
Vilkovo, August 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma is sure that the mouth of the Danube River will turn to a great European transport crossroads.
"In the future ... the mouth of the largest river of Europe may turn to a great European transport junction," Kuchma said during the opening of the Danube-Black Sea deep-water navigation canal.
The building of the canal, which cuts through a UN-designated environmental reserve, has irked other European countries, particularly Romania. Ukraine has defended the project, saying it has show that the canal will not damage the environment, and that it is vital to Ukraine's economic interests.
With the opening of the canal, Ukraine will also challenge Romania's virtual monopoly on the flow of Danube-Black Sea shipping.
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EU asks Ukraine to halt canal
From news reports AP, Reuters
Thursday, August 26, 2004
BRUSSELS The European Union urged Ukraine on Wednesday to halt plans to extend a canal through the environmentally sensitive Danube River Delta, warning that the project risked harming the Union's relations with the former Soviet republic.
The Union has repeatedly called on Ukraine to stop work on the Bystroye Canal, which would form a waterway between the Black Sea and the Ukrainian section of the delta, until completion of an environmental assessment.
The Union said it would "welcome reassurances from the Ukrainian government confirming its intention not to proceed further with the project."
But the union stopped short of threatening sanctions against Ukraine if the project went ahead.
"We can't start saber-rattling," said an EU spokesman, Jean-Christophe Filori, "but it is not a welcome development, the building of this canal. It's not going to help our relations with Ukraine."
Environmental activists have warned that the plan to deepen and widen the 170-kilometer, or 105-mile, canal endangers one of Europe's most important wetland sites and would destroy habitats for tens of thousands of birds, including endangered species.
Neighboring Romania fears the canal could cause water levels to change. More than 500 protesters marched in Bucharest on Tuesday, demanding a stop to the project.
Ukraine argues that the canal is needed to improve access to the Black Sea and strengthen the local economy.
"It's a matter of protecting our economic interests," a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Markian Lubkivskiy, told reporters in Kiev. (AP, Reuters)
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