European Parliament members to look at how Lithuania has spent Ignalina closure funds

A delegation from the European Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control is to visit Lithuania on 10 through 12 July.

The MEPs are scheduled to meet with Žilvinas Jurkšus, CEO of INPP, and officials of Nukem, a Russian-owned company that is carrying out the plant's key decommissioning projects.

On the last day of their visit, the MEPs are to discuss issues related to the INPP closure funding with members of the Lithuanian parliament's Committees on European Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Economics and Audit, and the Nuclear Energy Commission.

Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, a member of the Committee on European Affairs, told BNS that the MEPs wanted to see if the Ignalina closure funds had been properly used.

"If they ascertain that we have not violated anything and that these funds have been used properly, then the issue of the closure funding in 2014-2020 will be further dealt with," he said.

In line with its EU accession agreement, Lithuania permanently shut down Ignalina plant on the last day of 2009.

1.589 billion euros in total was allocated for the nuclear power plant's decommissioning in 1999 to 2011. Lithuania's own funds accounted for 12 percent of the funding, with the rest provided by the EU.

The European Commission has proposed to provide only 210 million euros for the Ignalina plant's closure in 2014 to 2017, while Lithuania is asking for 770 million euros, with another 100 million euros to be allocated from its own budget.

Prime Minister hopes for objectivity

Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius has said that he expects that the European Parliament delegation will make an objective assessment of problems related to the closure of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP).

The leader of the government, which is seeking more funds in the EU's next budget, underlined that the plant's closure is the responsibility not only of Lithuania, but of the EU as a whole.

"I expect an objective assessment of the situation from the delegation of EU parliamentarians. It's good that the MEPs are coming, because INPP closure is, first of all, the EU's commitment, which was set out in the (accession) treaty between Lithuania and the EU," Kubilius told the Lithuanian Radio.

"Lithuania alone cannot take all the actions and shoulder all the responsibilities, because this is an EU project, a matter of EU responsibility. Decommissioning of a power plant of this type is a unique process. No one in Europe has experience in closing such a plant. Therefore, we are faced with various challenges, including the challenge of providing proper financing," he said.

"We are not satisfied with the situation we see today. We have had a lot of discussions with the main contractors in the closure projects, namely, Nukem. The work is running behind schedule and costs are rising. Together with EU institutions, we must find the most effective solutions as to how to continue to efficiently implement this project of high importance to the whole EU," the prime minister said.