Speaker of the Seimas: We welcome the statement of the Polish Government that Poland will not buy electricity from the Astravyets Nuclear Power Plant

Press release, 28 March 2017

During his visit to Warsaw, Viktoras Pranckietis, Speaker of the Seimas, had a meeting with Piotr Naimski, Polish Government Representative in charge of energy infrastructure, to discuss the future of energy sector in the region and the issue of the Astravyets nuclear power plant currently under construction. Lithuania received an important political signal from Warsaw last week that Poland was not going to purchase electricity produced in the Astravyets nuclear power plant. Mr Naimski, Polish Government Representative stated that “purchasing electricity from Belarus is not possible”.

“The unsafe Astravyets NPP project may potentially also lead to unfair competition in the electricity market. We must understand that, once the Astravyets NPP is built, the electricity will be produced in violation of international nuclear safety requirements, therefore, it should not be purchased by the EU countries. We welcome the statement by Piotr Naimski, Polish Government Representative, that Poland will not purchase electricity from the Astravyets NPP in Belarus. I hope that the document of our Trilateral Assembly Session will properly cover the problem of the Astravyets NPP and show the solidarity among all the three countries: Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine,” said the Speaker of the Seimas.

The Lithuanian Seimas took a resolute stance in this regard. On 10 February 2017, all the parliamentary political groups signed an agreement of the political parties on joint actions with respect to the Astravyets NPP. The agreement takes note of the hazard arising to Lithuania due to the nuclear power plant under construction in Astravyets and suggests that all necessary steps should to be taken to reduce the threat. This implies Lithuania’s demand that Belarus stop the construction of the Astravyets NPP; carry out comprehensive risk and resilience assessment tests; conduct a full-scope IAEA mission to assess the NPP siting, and allow access to the international expert commission in order to ensure international supervision. The fact that the Astravyets NPP issue is not just Lithuania’s “national headache”, is also demonstrated by the Resolution of the European Parliament adopted in November 2016, which urges that nuclear safety and environment protection issues be addressed at the EU level.

“The safety of the Astravyets NPP must be a part of the dialogue between the EU and Belarus. We expect solidarity and a principled position demanding that Belarus comply with the international obligations," Mr Pranckietis said.

Dalia Vencevičienė, Senior Adviser to the Speaker of the Seimas, tel.+370 5 239 6016,

mob.+370 698 42 071, e-mail: [email protected]