He also confirmed that the proposed budget calls for discontinuing European funding for the project in four years' time, in 2017, even though under its Accession Treaty, Lithuania committed itself to decommissioning the plant by 2030 and the EU promised to provide the required financing for the project.
The proposed funding is well below the 770 million euros requested by Lithuania.
"I think that we are not going to accept this proposal. I have said at the European Parliament's Budget Committee that I will never agree to that. Such a decision would be an unbearable burden to Lithuania and it would breach Lithuania's Accession Treaty," Balčytis said.
"I think that it should be written down (in the budget) that the European Union will deliver on its commitments to provide financing for Ignalina NPP closure until 2030, because we have committed to decommission it by 31 December 2029," he said.
The member of the European Parliament believes that the big battle for the funding will be fought at next week's EU summit in Brussels.
"I think that Lithuania must raise this issue," said Balčytis, who has written to Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius and Seimas Speaker Irena Degutienė regarding this issue.
Lithuania estimates that it needs around 770 million euros for Ignalina plant's decommissioning until 2020 and a total of 1.5 billion euros until 2030.
According to the public broadcaster LRT, there are no doubts in Brussels that it will be extremely difficult to amend the documents. Lithuanian government officials have said repeatedly that the proposed funding will not be sufficient to decommission the plant and that Lithuania does not have the resources to do so.
Lithuania has been allocated 1.37 billion euros for this purpose until 2013.
Lithuania critical about proposals
Lithuania is critical about a proposal on the EU's funding of Ignalina nuclear power plant's closure, but it is important to take into account the entire financial package, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė's spokeswoman Daiva Ulbinaitė told BNS on Thursday.
"The proposal is not new. As earlier, we are critical about it," Ulbinaitė told BNS.
She said three positions, including agriculture, structural funds, and funding of Ignalina's closure, are important for Lithuania at the EU budget talks.
"Therefore, Lithuania will seek the best common financial package at the talks," the president's spokeswoman said.
Diplomats say it’s not that Lithuania wants more EU money for the plant's closure; the Baltic country wants the 2017 deadline to be dropped as it might prevent from getting funding for Ignalina beyond that date.
