BUCHAREST, Aug 26 (AFP) - President Ion Iliescu accused Ukraine of being a bad neighbor Thursday and of barging ahead with a "policy of fait accompli" by opening a ship canel through a natural park in the Danube delta.
Romania has bitterly protested the building of the canal on its border without even the courtesy of an environmental impact study.
The United States has voiced "deep concern" about the possible environmental consequences to the protected wetlands of the delta, and the European Commission warned Wednesday that the project could seriously harm EU-Ukraine relations.
Ukraininan President Leonid Kuchma inauguarated the first phase of the canal, which is designed to give Ukraine a navigable route between the Danube and the Black Sea. He brushed aside environmental concerns, saying that opposition to the project was based on economic and political criteria.
But Iliescu said, "A policy of fait accompli is not conducive to good relations between Romania and the Ukraine and is contrary to the rules of international law."
Iliescu said a meeting of advisors on the state of Romanian-Ukrainian relations had concluded that Bucharest has a case for taking the dispute to the International Court of Justice in the Hague.