A top European watchdog Thursday warned Lithuania that Brussels may freeze funds aimed at helping it decommission a Soviet-era nuclear reactor unless the Baltic state improves its management.
A top European watchdog Thursday warned
Lithuania
that
Brussels
may
freeze funds aimed at helping it decommission a Soviet-era nuclear reactor
unless the Baltic state improves its management.
Michael Theurer, head of the European Parliament's committee on budgetary
control, said the European Commission had set
Vilnius
a
July 17 deadline for a shake-up.
He warned that the European Union's executive could "put into place the
question of freezing of European funds if the management structure is not
improved."
"That is the ultima ratio which we understand, and we back the Commission
position" said Mr. Theurer, who was heading a special delegation during a
three-day visit to Lithuania.
A pledge to shut the Soviet-era facility was one of the conditions for
Lithuania
's
admission to the EU in 2004. It closed its only nuclear power plant, located
near Ignalina in the country's northeast in 2009.
In February, a damning report by the European Court of Auditors said
"major infrastructure projects face delays and cost-overruns" in
Lithuania
.
Lithuania
has
received almost 1.37 billion euros ($1.68 billion) as part of an EU funding
deal to support the decommissioning but Mr. Theurer noted that less than half
of this sum has been used so far.
In a new budget, starting in 2014, the European Commission has offered
Lithuania EUR210 million in decommissioning funds but
Vilnius
said
it needed over EUR700 million.
"The talk about new money is not easy if available funds amounting up to
EUR500 billion are not used effectively now," Theurer warned.
The Lithuanian government has admitted delays in the project but insists the
responsibility lies with the main contractor, Russian-owned German company
Nukem Technologies.
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