Economy, Energy

In 1999 Hungary’s output of electricity was 35 billion kilowatt-hours. Because Hungary does not produce enough electrical power to meet its needs, the country has to import large quantities of oil, in addition to some of its coal supply. In the 1980s the government began constructing nuclear reactors in an effort to conserve and reduce dependence on imported energy sources. In 1999 the combustion of coal and oil provided 61 percent of Hungary’s electricity; nuclear power facilities supplied 38 percent.

In the 1990s a controversy arose between Hungary and neighboring Slovakia over the hydroelectric project at Gabcikovo-Nagymaros. The project began in 1977 as a joint effort between Hungary and what was then Czechoslovakia. The plan called for the diversion of the Danube and the construction of two dams, one in Gabcikovo in Slovakia and one in Nagymaros in Hungary. In 1989 Hungary decided to abandon the project, claiming that it would endanger the environment. The Czechoslovak government proceeded unilaterally and in 1992 diverted a 17-km (11-mi) stretch of the river, reducing water flow to the Danube floodplain in Hungary. These events produced a major dispute between the two governments. The dispute, inherited by the Slovak government with the breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1993, was referred that year to the International Court of Justice, the judicial arm of the United Nations. In 1997 the court ruled that both countries had violated the 1977 project agreement and ordered them to compensate one another and continue negotiations to resolve the dispute. Both countries were still in negotiations as of April 1999.