EC will seek to protect EU interests on Belarusian nuclear plant - commissioner
VILNIUS/MINSK. Nov 6 (Interfax/BNS) - The European Commission will seek to protect the interests of European Union member nations if Belarus does not take into account their criticism concerning the construction of a nuclear power plant in the country, EU Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger told Interfax.
"We have contact with the government in Belarus. It's mainly up to them to decide what happens and it's mainly up to us to look at what the European Union's interest is. It's an open discussion," Oettinger said.
"For me, as the European Commissioner, it's relevant and important to keep best contact with our concerned member states, it means mainly Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia," Oettinger said.
He did not provide a direct answer on whether the future nuclear power plant in Belarus would get access to the EU electricity market. "It's an open question. It's a decision up to them and it's our decision to analyse what our EU interest is," Oettinger said.
In late October, Lithuania's Foreign Ministry urged Belarus not to build the NPP in Ostrovets, in the Grodno Region, until an environmental impact assessment is completed in line with the Espoo Convention. Lithuania claims the construction of the Belarusian NPP is a violation of the convention.
The head of government assessments at the Belarusian Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry, Alexander Andreyev said that Belarus had concluded its discussions with Lithuania on the construction of the plant with the issue of a presidential decree on the plant's construction. The Belarusian president signed the decree on the construction of the NPP on November, giving the general contractor, Russia's Atomstroyexport (ASE) the right to actually start construction.
"We believe that with this our discussions with Lithuania on the construction of the NPP have ended, although Lithuania of course thinks otherwise. But we don't have any other choice, since Lithuania has been dragging out this dispute for two and a half years already. We've done everything we could to explain problematic issues," Andreyev told Interfax.
He said that following repeated technical consultations and public hearings on the Belarusian environmental impact assessment on the future NPP, Belarus held discussions on the report in Ostrovets in mid-August with the participation of the Lithuanian public. And although after the hearings all Lithuanian participants were satisfied with the discussion, official Vilnius proposed that Belarus hold another such meeting by October 25, Andreyev said.
"Lithuania proposed holding another meeting by October 25. We said that we were prepared to take questions from the Lithuanian public until October 18. We did not receive anything from them," Andreyev said.
"The dialog with Lithuanian government agencies has been underway since 2010, they have the same questions," he added.
Commenting on the Lithuanian allegations that Belarus is violating the Espoo Convention, Andreyev said the committee on the implementation of this convention submitted recommendations to the parties in the dispute, but it did not say that Belarus is violating provisions of the convention.
"The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry is doing what it wants, stating that we're violating the convention instead of carefully looking at the committee's letter. By the way, its recommendations concern not only Belarus, but also the Lithuanian side," Andreyev said.
Andreyev also said that he has consulted various international organizations on how Belarus should respond to Lithuania's criticisms. "All these organizations confirmed to us that we have met all our international obligations and it's time to end the discussion," he said.
The Espoo Convention committee in April published a report on this dispute in which it urged Belarus to provide detailed answers to all questions raised by Lithuania, as well as take into account the concerns of Lithuanian experts and public, and adhere to the requirements of the convention.
The report did not state that Belarus is violating the provisions of the convention by building the NPP.
Lithuania opposes the construction of Belarus' first nuclear plant, which will be located about 50 km from the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.
Belarus, as part of its international obligations, twice held public hearings with Lithuania and consultations on the environmental impact assessment for the project. In addition, in the summer of 2013, Belarus on its own initiative organized a public discussion with the Lithuanian public in Ostrovets, offering Lithuanian visa-free entry into the country and the opportunity to view the plant construction site. At the hearings, Lithuanians were satisfied with the responses of Belarusian exports, but the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry later criticized the event, saying it did not get enough answers from Belarus.
The Belarusian NPP will have two generating units with combined capacity of up to 2,400 MW. AES selected the AES-2006 design, which fully meets international standards and the recommendations of the International Atomic Energy Agency, for the plant.
