Neilas Tankevičius leaves negotiations with EC to head embassy in Tallinn

Tankevičius should replace Juozas Bernatonis in Tallinn, the daily Lietuvos rytas reports.

"Appointing an ambassador takes a few months. The negotiations on support for the N-plant closure are still in progress, a lot has already been done," the daily cites Tankevičius, a diplomat at the Foreign Ministry, as saying in comment of his transfer to a new position prior to completion of the talks.

The negotiations with the EC should be finished by mid-2013. According to Lietuvos rytas, Vilnius has so far failed to persuade Brussels into boosting the closure funding for the 2014-2020 period.

Lithuania has requested a total of 770 million euros, while the EC has pledged merely 300-400 million euros.

Lithuania's government officials have repeatedly said that the closure costs would have to be covered by energy consumers, should the European Union fail to provide sufficient funding for the decommissioning operations.

Nevertheless, Tankevičius said his departure would not undermine Lithuania's negotiating positions, as some of the tasks are preformed by ministries.