[Mai-not] Romanian gold mine

[Ed Deak]

for info
Hungarians appeal to EU, Canada to prevent Romanian gold mine
Hungarian Greenpeace activist Roland Csaky has said that the implementation 
of a gold mine in western Romania with serious environmental risks has 
already started with the purchase of nearby properties. A Hungarian 
opposition politician called for urgent steps by the EU environment 
commissioner to prevent the mine, which he said had risks similar to the 
one that caused the death of wildlife in eastern Hungarian rivers in 2000. 
A government party politician said that Hungary had been trying to prevent 
the project and expected pressure from the EU and Canada, the home country 
of the investor. He said he was optimistic about the outcome of the current 
visit by the Romanian prime minister, adding: "If there is no success now, 
we will go on an on, and we will never stop." The following is excerpt from 
report by Hungarian Kossuth Radio on 17 January:
[Presenter] The new Romanian prime minister is visiting Budapest today. He 
has promised to hold talks with the Hungarian minister of environmental 
protection on the issue of Verespatak [Rosia Montana, in western Romania, 
the location of a new gold mine under planning]. The gold mine to be opened 
carries the same risk of cyanide pollution in the [eastern Hungarian] River 
Tisza as the pollution in the winter of 2000. [Cyanide leaking from another 
gold mine in Baia Mare caused mass fish deaths.]
In the "Background" section of the "Evening Chronicle" on Friday [14 
January], Erika Farkas interviewed Greenpeace activist Roland Csaky, Matyas 
Eoersi, politician from the Alliance of Free Democrats [SZDSZ, junior 
government coalition party] and former Environment Protection Minister Bela 
Turi-Kovacs [from the opposition Fidesz - Hungarian Civic Alliance]:
[Csaky] Various Romanian ministry officials have said several times that 
there is no licensing procedure under way because no investment is taking 
place there, nothing is happening there, because no licence application has 
been submitted yet.
Contrary to this, the situation is that houses are being bought 
continuously. It is happening there in the form of daily morning visits 
paid by a staff member of the investment company to those who still live 
there. He rings the bell asking whether they want to sell their house 
today. This is a kind of psychological terror, which is being used 
continuously. This is what I had to say about the claim that no investment 
is taking place there. There is. And people are dying from it. [Passage 
omitted]
[Eoersi] The investor's thinking, obviously, is that the further it goes by 
creating a fait accompli, the more difficult it will be to say no to it. 
However, I am convinced that their calculation is wrong. An enormous 
pressure will be put on the Romanian government, not by Hungary, or not 
just by Hungary.
There was a debate in [Hungarian] parliament whether this should delay 
Romania's EU accession or not. I think the EU will also put pressure on 
Romania. What is more, we are also making efforts to ensure that there is a 
Canadian pressure. [Passage omitted]
There is still a huge scope for action. I think nothing has been decided 
yet. I am deeply convinced that this investment project can be prevented, 
despite the process described by Roland Csaky. I think the new government 
will not issue a licence for it. [Former] Prime Minister [Adrian] Nastase 
said it very precisely that it was only a tale that Verespatak would pull 
Romania out of poverty. Of course, he said, gold was important, but this 
gold would go away, it would be taken away, and cyanide would be left 
behind. I cannot imagine that the new government could ignore this. 
[Passage omitted]
[Turi-Kovacs] [Passage omitted] The idea that we have tried to veto 
Romania's EU accession has not been raised by any responsible Fidesz 
politician. We have always said, and maintain to say, that it would have 
been right to delay the closure of Romania's talks on the environmental 
chapter, or even reopen it after its closure. There is not any unfriendly 
gesture in it, since it is entirely clear that until a country signs the 
accession treaty - this is how it happened with us, too - the chapters are 
not yet fully closed.
I personally see an element of guarantee in the EU only. [Passage omitted] 
We need guarantees because the danger is so great that I think we need to 
grab every possible solution, naturally, without damaging the two 
countries' friendship. [Passage omitted]
[Eoersi] [Passage omitted] One could discuss whether it would have been 
right to reopen the environmental chapter or not. I know the EU's operation 
rather well, and I think reopening the chapter would have meant that the 
deadline of 2007 set originally for Romania's entry could not have been kept.
I am optimistic, however, because the EU's recently approved guidelines for 
mining sets an extremely strict threshold for the permitted level of the 
concentration of polluting materials, among them cyanide chemicals required 
for gold mining. This is so recent that it is even stricter than the terms 
used in negotiations with Romania. If Romania joins the EU in 2007, this 
guideline will be compulsory for it as well. Obviously, there is a period 
of derogation, which is about the same as Hungary received at the time.
[Csaky] Which corresponds to the period during which the gold mine could be 
operated. This is the problem. This specific 10-year period of derogation 
frees Romania from implementing this strict regulation precisely during the 
10-year period under which this mine can be operated in a profitable 
manner. [Passage omitted]
[Turi-Kovacs] [Passage omitted] One of our biggest problem with the closure 
of the Romanian environmental chapter is that it set such derogation, or 
temporary exemptions, which do not allow appropriate steps against the 
largest polluters - and not only this one - precisely within these deadlines.
I think the next major step should be to appeal to the EU now, not later, 
as it happened in the case of Nagybanya [Baia Mare], where a committee 
called Baia Mare passed a very good resolution [after the pollution]. Now, 
when this problem can be prevented, when we can speak of the danger only, 
the EU, primarily the environment commissioner, should take steps. He 
should make it clear that the implementation of such an environmentally 
damaging investment project should not be implemented because it is an 
international requirement. [Passage omitted]
[Eoersi] [Passage omitted] I do not know what is in the bag of the Romanian 
government delegation. Last week I visited Bucharest and met Prime Minister 
Popescu Tariceanu and drew his attention to this problem. We should not 
forget that this is a very fresh, new government which is not yet familiar 
with the files. He promised that he would look into the file and request a 
thorough briefing before his Budapest visit. I hope that he has come here 
with some kind of positive message which will be a clear guarantee that 
this investment project will not be implemented in Romania.
I am convinced that, if he does not do this on this occasion, he will have 
to do it later, and perhaps he is better off to be seen as a prime minister 
who protects the environment, who is concerned about the future of Rosia 
Montana, Verespatak. I am optimistic. If there is no success now, we will 
go on an on, and we will never stop.
Source: Kossuth Radio, Budapest, in Hungarian 0540 gmt 17 Jan 05
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