Europe Y2K Fears Focus On Power...12/20/99

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - The official line in much of eastern Europe goes like this: Computers aren't used as much as in the highly automated West, so the Y2K problem is less of a concern. True, many computers in former East bloc nations are late-generation, increasing the chances that they are bug-free. And much government record-keeping is still manual, like Romania's Social Security records. "I am not worried; things are under control," says Iuliu Bara, the Romanian government's Y2K coordinator. But older computer systems that are most vulnerable to the millennium bug do exist, and often they control sectors like energy - which in Romania harbors the greatest potential for failure. Y2K analysts and Western governments are worried about the power grids of Romania and other eastern European nations from the Baltic states to the Balkans.