It has been 33 years since the release of Gabčíkovo power plant on 24 October 1992, and Hungary and Slovakia have still failed to dispute a mutual dispute on the system of water works Gabčíkovo – Nagymaros (SVDGN). This topic is so toxic in Hungarian public life that the Fidesz government did not sign an agreement with the Slovak party, which was allegedly already ready. According to Telex.hu/g7, the former associate professor of water structures and water management Budapest Technical University Csaba Mészáros pointed out this, informs the TASR newsletter in Budapest.
The consequences of the SVDGG project in Hungary are still noticeable in the discussions of water energy, according to Mészáros, who is retired. A particularly sensitive question is the diverting of the river from the old Danube trough towards Gabčík. This trough cannot be seen as old and original, because it was artificially adapted for the cruise in the 19th century.
According to the agreement concluded with Czechoslovakia in 1977, both countries were to build a hydroelectric power plant on the Danube, but Due to the resistance of the Hungarian society, the construction of Nagymaros was stopped in 1989 and has never been completed. According to Mészáros, the roots of stopping the project can be sought in opposition movements before changing the regime that protested against investment with environmental arguments, but also with political goals.
The consequences are still noticeable, Hungary remained without electricity and the water flow on the Hungarian sections of the Danube has decreased. The Slovak-Hungarian agreement, which was almost achieved last year-according to which Hungary would receive electricity in exchange for recognition of the construction-failed for political reasons, so the situation remains unresolved, Mészáros said.
In an extensive interview, he noted, among other things, that water energy in Hungary provides only one percent of electricity, which is extremely low compared to Europe. In Austria, for example, the Danube produces 12-13 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year, in Norway and Albania more than 90 percent of electricity production comes from hydroelectric power plants.
According to expert estimates, 10-12 percent of electricity production in Hungary could cover hydroelectric power plants and the theoretical reserve of water performance would reach 1000 megawatts. This is half the installed power of the PAKS nuclear power plant and could be particularly useful in balancing fluctuations in the home production of solar power plants, underlined by the water expert.
Thanks to frequent consultations between Hungary and the Slovak Republic, in 2025, there is a greater chance than ever before the mutually advantageous conclusion of a long -lasting lawsuit in the case of SVDGN. This was stated on 8 January on Facebook by the Hungarian Energy Department. The Ministry recalled that the government’s representatives of Hungary and Slovakia had been negotiating in Bratislava for the fifth time and were looking for a satisfactory way of resolution of the dispute for both parties.
The head of the Slovak environment Tomáš Taraba said on December 30 that it is a matter of a few weeks when Slovakia will have a final draft agreement with Hungary on the table to terminate a 30-year dispute in connection with the construction of SVDGN.
The international agreement on the construction and operation of SVDGG was signed by the chairmen of the Government of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the People’s Republic of Hungary in Budapest in 1977. Hungary resigned from the project in 1989, at that time most of the works were finished on the Slovak side.
In 1997, the International Court of Justice in the Hague brought a judgment in a dispute between the Republic of Hungary and the Slovak Republic and confirmed the validity of the contract of 1977, the succession of the Slovak Republic after the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic and declared the construction of a replacement solution (degree of Čunovo).
The court ruled that both parties should, in order to align economic development with environmental protection, should re -examine the effects of the use of Gabčíkovo to the environment. In particular, they were supposed to find a satisfactory solution in the question of the volume of water flowing into the old riverbed of the Danube and the arms on both banks of the river.
