"Yes, meetings with opposition leaders are being held. Key energy projects, first of all, Visaginas nuclear power plant, are national projects, therefore, support by all political powers is very important," Virgis Valentinavičius, an adviser to the prime minister, told BNS on Friday.
"We see that the main parties are able to demonstrate political wisdom and responsibility for the implementation of national projects of strategic importance, which will ensure energy security for Lithuania and better energy prices for the Lithuanian people," he said.
According to BNS sources, Kubilius met earlier this week with social democratic leaders Algirdas Butkevičius and Gediminas Kirkilas, leader of the opposition Labor Party and MEP Viktor Uspaskich and the party's deputy chairman, MP Kęstutis Daukšys.
Kirkilas told BNS energy issues were discussed and draft legal acts, to be adopted by the parliament for the construction of the Visaginas nuclear power plant, were presented during a meeting on Thursday.
"It should have been held long ago," Kirkilas said about the meeting with the prime minister. His political group has been criticizing the premier for the lack of information about the project. "We discussed current affairs, including the most important issues related to energy projects. He presented draft legal acts regarding Visaginas nuclear power plant that the prime minister promises to submit by the end of this month," Kirkilas said.
In his words, the prime minister underlined that Visaginas nuclear power plant is a continuous project, and the decision on it was made by the former social democratic government. "The prime minister stressed that it is a continuous project, and that the project we approved is being further implemented. I agree with that, but the incumbent government chose a different form," Kirkilas said.
Daukšys did not elaborate on the prime minister's meeting with the Labor Party's representatives on Thursday and only said that energy projects were discussed.
Asked whether details of the power plant construction became became clearer for the Labor Party's political group, Daukšys told BNS: "We hope it will become clearer." He added that "the prime minister kindly promised to provide certain figures and other things."
Leader of the Labor Party Uspaskich was even less talkative and said he found himself at the meeting, which, he said, took place in a café, "almost accidentally." "The meeting did take place but it wasn't something special, I even got there almost accidentally. When I learnt the meeting was taking place, I went there but the meeting was almost finished. So I can hardly say what happened there. They talked about energy projects," Uspaskich told BNS.
Asked whether he learnt something more about the implementation of the project, Uspaskich said: "What more can you learn when the meeting is taking place almost on the street."
Lithuania hopes to build the new facility by 2020-2022 together with Japan's Hitachi as the strategic investor and Latvian and Estonian energy companies. During the parliamentary spring session, the government expects to receive the parliament's approval of the concession agreement signed by the Lithuanian government and Hitachi. The Baltic energy companies, however, will most probably make final decisions and the construction will start only in 2015.
The Lithuanian government says that Visaginas nuclear power plant will produce cheap power and ensure greater energy security for Lithuania, currently dependent on Russian energy recourses. But some opposition representatives say there's a lack of information about the project.
