Belarus, EU – Baltic States, EU – CIS, Lithuania, Nuclear power plant
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Thursday, 28.03.2024, 13:21
Belarus' MFA regarding the decision of the Geneva Meeting of the Parties to the Espoo Convention
We are deeply disappointed by
the decision of the Geneva Meeting of the Parties to the Espoo Convention that
the Belarusian side allegedly did not provide the public with “sufficient”
information in support of the justification of the selection of the Ostrovets
site for the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant.
The relevant Committee did not
even bother to explain what information gaps the Belarusian side failed to
cover. Probably because the criterion of sufficiency is not in the Convention itself,
nor in the documents defining the rules for the work of the Committee on its
application. At the same time, in violation of the working procedures of the
Committee, Belarus was deprived of the opportunity to officially comment on
unfounded claims to it.
We took into account that the
anti-Belarusian decision of the Meeting was taken on the initiative of the
delegation of the European Union in favor of Lithuania. It is obvious that the
result of the vote was predetermined by the “bloc discipline” of the EU
countries, which constitute the majority of the members of the Convention.
Following the will of the
official Vilnius, the EU “did not notice” that for almost eight years the
Government of Belarus actively cooperated with the Committee on the implementation
of the provisions of the Espoo Convention in the framework of the Lithuanian
complaint.
Acting in good faith, we
repeatedly initiated a dialogue on this topic with Lithuania, which under any
pretext avoided constructive interaction. On the contrary, the issue of
opposition to the Belarusian NPP project has become an obsessive idea in the
Lithuanian political environment.
Having destroyed their own
nuclear power industry and abandoned the Belarusian proposals to build NPP
jointly, Lithuanian politicians obviously have no choice but to try to shift
the burden of responsibility to voters from a sore head to a healthy one.
The decision adopted at the
Meeting of the Parties to the Convention has no links whatsoever with the
security of the Belarusian NPP. This issue is beyond the Conventions’ mandate.
Linking these questions, the Lithuanian side deliberately misleads everyone.
The example of the
manipulation of the Espoo Convention is a clear and disturbing evidence of the
degradation of a universal system of the international law. We urge the
international community to counter this practice in a consistent manner.
In conclusion, we emphasize
that the development of a peaceful nuclear programme is a sovereign right of an
independent state.
We will draw conclusions from
the actions of the parties to the Espoo Convention and will consider them when
forming our relations in the future.