NPP as price of EU membership: What loss of cheapest power plant means for Lithuania

A nuclear power plant forms a fundamentally new level for any country. However, Lithuania, on the contrary, has disconnected from the BRELL ring and decommissioned the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant.

It appears the country's desire to join the European Union came at too high a price. Edikas Jagelavičius, Chairman of the International Neighborhood Forum, agrees with this statement in the Spotlight Interview.

The kindly Soviet "Father Frost" left behind a great deal of usefulness for Lithuanians, but industry, including the energy sector, suffered a disaster. The shutdown of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant was the icing on the cake.

According to the interviewee, in 2004, Lithuania was eager to join the EU, which at the time looked quite attractive. "Our amorphous politicians decided to join at any cost. One of Lithuania's demands for EU membership was the closure of the nuclear power plant. If politicians had been more focused on their country's development, they could have fully defended the nuclear power plant and joined the EU, even keeping the nuclear power plant. But when the USSR collapsed, politicians came to power who were constantly thinking about how to profit from the flow of money. They weren't thinking about their country, its development, or how to improve people's lives. They still look to their masters—the EU and Washington—and strive to fulfill and exceed their directives and orders. In doing so, the masters allow them to profit," Edikas Jagelavičius explained the current situation.

Lithuania, with its low-cost nuclear power plant, was one of the  most modernized country in the world in the early 2000s. Its production costs were low, allowing the country to produce cheap goods that would have sold to EU markets, but the EU didn't need this due to competition. Moreover, the state's possession of its own economic instruments makes it independent, which the structure also didn't need.

Main photo: sputnik.by