Two Stories from Eastern Europe

Arthur Max from AP has an excellent piece on the environment in Eastern Europe, contrasting two rivers.  The Danube flows through Germany and then Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Romania, and Bulgaria.  It was an environmental disaster, but both the river itself and its environs have been improved greatly for three reasons: (a) the countries involved have been eager to clean up their act in order to join the EU, (b) they signed an international agreement on the river, and (c)they then received billions in Western aid.  Lacking those incentives, the Dnieper in Ukraine has remained a grim tribute to the Soviet era.

Eastern Europe, EU environmental policy, water pollution