ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the decision to build the dam was ultimately taken for political reasons. The conflicts about the dam project that arose from the mid-1980s were also ultimately political, though important economic interests were also at stake. The chapter shows that the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros dam became a symbol in both countries, but a positive symbol in Slovakia and a negative one in Hungary. Slovak official statements and Hungarian supporters of the project regard these concerns, in most cases, as unjustified, at best exaggerated and at worst, tendentious. They do not accept that they are any less concerned about the environment than their critics. On the side of the hill, the Slovak political scene had been turbulent since the collapse of Communism. Hungary was much longer having its second post-communist election than Czecho-Slovakia/Slovakia. However, construction was suspended in November 1992, but the diversion remains, representing a major defeat for Hungary.
