Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary/Slovakia)
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| Press Release 1997/7 |  |
9 April 1997
Case concerning the Gabcíkovo-Nagymaros Project
(Hungary/Slovakia)
Second round of hearings
Visit by the Court to the area to which the case relates
THE HAGUE, 9 April 1997. The second round of oral hearings before the International Court of Justice in the case concerning the Gabcíkovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary/Slovakia) will open on Thursday 10 April at 10 a.m. Hungary will address the Court on Thursday 10 and Friday 11 April, and Slovakia will do so on Monday 14 and Tuesday 15 April.
The case was referred to the Court in 1993 by agreement between the Parties. It concerns a Treaty concluded in 1977 for the construction of a major hydroelectric dam project on the Danube at Gabcíkovo in Slovakia and Nagymaros in Hungary. The Court is asked to determine whether Hungary was entitled to suspend and subsequently abandon its part of the Project; whether the then Czech and Slovak Federal Republic was entitled to proceed with a "provisional solution" involving damming the river at another location; and what are the legal effects of the notification by Hungary in 1992 of the termination of the Treaty.
For the first time in its 50-year history, the Court made a visit, between 1 and 4 April, to the areas to which the case relates. The visit was undertaken at the request of both Parties. It covered areas in both countries.
The Court, accompanied by the Agents and technical advisers of the two States, was shown a number of locations in the Danube area between Bratislava and Budapest. Locations in Slovakia were presented by the Slovak delegation on 1 and 2 April, and the Court crossed into Hungary for presentations by the Hungarian delegation on 3 and 4 April. Judges of the Court were able to put questions of fact to the two delegations. While in Bratislava, the Judges of the Court were received by the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, Mr. Vladimir Meciar, and in Budapest they were received by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary, Mr. Gyula Horn.