[David]

I am very grateful to many of you for supporting Proact's Danube Delta campaign

The following reply from the German Govt. is quite positive. I hope they pull their EU partners along with them.

I will be lobbying them and the commissioners and MEPs before the next EU-Ukraine summit in eary July.

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(translation)
Dear Mr Conlin,

Thank you for your query regarding the building of a canal in the Ukrainian part of the Danube Delta.

Immediately after it became known that work was about to begin the German Embassy in Kiev, on the instructions of the Foreign and Environment ministries, expressed the German government’s concerns about the project to the Ukraine Foreign Ministry; and demanded an stop to the work and the instigation of a trans-national environmental impact assessment (EIA) to international standards. In 2003 the German delegation to the International Commission for Protection of the Danube supported a resolution calling on the Ukraine to make public their plans for the canal construction and the carrying out of an EIA. The German firms involved in the canal construction were also informed of the Federal Governments stance on the project.

Regrettably, in spite of the concerns expressed by many governments and NGOs, the Ukrainian Government has to date shown no willingness to comply with the demands for a stop to construction or the implementation of a trans-national EIA.

The Federal Government will continue to use its bilateral contacts, as well as the committees of the relevant multilateral environmental treaties, to persuade the Ukrainian to find a solution which will take account of the international importance of the Danube Delta as a biosphere reserve and protected area for a large number of endangered animal and plant species.

Yours faithfully,


pp Bernd Bulir
Working Staff for environmental and biopolitical questions
(Arbeitsstab für umwelt- und biopolitische Fragen)
Auswärtiges Amt
Werderscher Markt 1
10117 Berlin