In her letter to EC, Prime Minister brings up again concerns over Astravyets NPP

On 15 January 2021, Prime Minister of Lithuania Ingrida Šimonytė sent a letter to President of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen and Vice-President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis thanking for the support to energy projects of strategic importance to Lithuania and the region and reminding at the same time about the threat posed to the region and the European Union (EU) by the unsafe nuclear power plant in Belarus.

The Prime Minister notes in her letter Belarus’s failure to comply with the EU nuclear safety recommendations, which renders it unsafe and unfit for operation.

The Prime Minister also asks the EU not to treat these recommendations as important and less important, as any error or emergency may result in dramatic consequences for all.

‘There can be no compromise on nuclear safety, thus it is important that all the recommendations are implemented without exception. We cannot sacrifice the health and lives of millions of people in the name of political compromises with a regime that the European Union recognises as illegitimate’, says the Prime Minister.

In the letter, the Prime Minister points out that the Belarusian side may seek to take advantage of the recommendations by declaring that the power plant is safe, therefore, EU expert missions must continue. These missions are the only way to monitor whether and how Belarus is implementing the recommendations.

The letter also reminds the EC leadership of the decision taken by the December European Council on the unsafe Astravyets NPP and calls for an examination of measures to prevent electricity from unsafe nuclear power plants from entering the EU.

‘I hope that the European Commission will implement this decision in full and on time, and that its efforts will be focused on how to do it and not whether it can be done at all’, says the Prime Minister.

The Head of the Lithuanian Government also notes that Lithuania will seek to revise the methodology for electricity trade with third countries agreed by the previous Government. The methodology should only enter into force given the existing system of guarantees of origin has been approved.

‘At the end of December, we agreed together with the Heads of Government of Latvia and Estonia that the electricity from the Astravyets NPP would not enter the Baltic market and thus will not be traded. We also agreed to speed up efforts regarding all the common measures to prevent the electricity from Belarus from entering the Baltic market, either directly or otherwise’, said the Prime Minister.