 |  |  |
| Return to: Left History: a digital archive | Return to: Say no to imperialist wars! | Return to: NATO-Yugoslav War Internet Resources |
| | |
| Return to: Left History: a digital archive | Return to: Say no to imperialist wars! | Return to: NATO-Yugoslav War Internet Resources |
PARIS (Reuters) -- French President Jacques Chirac said on Monday he and his Romanian counterpart would urge rich nations to help revive shipping on the River Danube, still disrupted after NATO's air war on Yugoslavia earlier this year.
Last week Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania appealed to the European Union (EU) to finance the removal of fallen bridges and other wreckage clogging the waterway, and Romanian President Emil Constantinescu discussed the issue with Chirac during a state visit to France on Monday.
"This unacceptable situation must cease as soon as possible," Chirac said after their meeting, adding that the two leaders would press members of the G-8 group of nations and the EU to help solve the problem.
Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine estimate that the disruption to navigation on the Danube, one of Europe's major waterways, has cost them hundreds of millions of dollars.
A Danube Commission fact-finding team has estimated that 90 million euros would be needed to clear the waterway and rebuild the bridges -- at least five bridges spanning the river from Yugoslavia were damaged or destroyed by NATO air raids.
Bulgaria says Yugoslavia has intentionally made navigation more difficult by requiring ships from Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine to obtain special permits to move through its section of the waterway.
Bulgaria and Romania both backed NATO's air campaign against Yugoslavia earlier this year over Belgrade's treatment of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority.