Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-01-12-Speech-1-138"
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"en.20040112.9.1-138"2
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".
Mr President, I speak on behalf of Mr Solbes, who has asked me to convey his apologies.
Every one of these projects concerns improving safety and facilitating the closure of unsafe power stations. If you, honourable Members, bear all these ventures in mind, you will readily understand why the Commission is calling for the Euratom mechanism to be increased by EUR 2 billion. The proposals would ensure that the countries joining the Union this year plus the remaining candidate countries could continue to apply for loans to improve safety and efficiency and also for loans to fund permanent closure following accession. Our proposals would ensure these safety projects would still be eligible for Euratom funding in an enlarged Union.
Our proposal is as follows. We wish to raise the maximum level of loans, and modify the scope and the instrument. It is not, however, proposed to modify the scope of loans to Member States, as that would require changes to the Euratom treaty.
New investment in the Member States is not formally excluded from the proposals. Nonetheless, the Commission believes priority should be given to nuclear safety and permanent closure. The Commission will have the opportunity of assessing the individual merits of applications when it studies each of them in turn. It would be prepared to combine both proposals if agreement were reached with the Council. I would, however, encourage the House to express its support for the Commission’s general guidelines on the proposals before they are submitted to the Council. The guidelines should encourage the Council to adopt the proposals.
The Euratom loan instrument was set up in 1977, pursuant to a Council decision. It is a mechanism enabling the Commission to award loans to help finance nuclear power stations in the Member States.
Following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the Commission broadened the scope and the loan instrument in 1994. The intention was to contribute to financing projects aimed at improving the safety and efficiency of nuclear power stations in the aforementioned countries.
It was stated clearly that permanent closure of facilities was eligible for funding. The hope was that this instrument would encourage the countries concerned to undertake the necessary improvements regarding nuclear safety. The maximum Euratom contribution was set at 50% of a project’s cost.
At the end of the 1990s agreement was reached on a loan to Bulgaria and Ukraine. As the sum involved was close to the maximum permissible for Euratom loans, the Commission found it necessary to inform the Council of the need to present a proposal to raise that limit.
Romania recently applied for a loan. The Commission is due to consider the application this month. Should it be approved, the current limit on loans would be reached. There would be no further opportunities for finance and the Euratom instrument would cease to be operational. Consequently, it is not possible to accept any loan requests on that basis at present. Nonetheless, there are important sectors in which the instrument could be helpful to the Commission’s policy on nuclear safety.
Firstly, the safety of eight nuclear power stations in three candidate countries is giving cause for concern. The Commission has called for their closure at the earliest possible stage of the enlargement process.
Another possible important measure concerns first generation nuclear reactors in Russia. The Commission could play a part in their closure. It could also help to improve the safety of a number of Russian plants where work is not proceeding to plan due to lack of funds.
Lastly, another project that could potentially benefit from Euratom funding involves improving the safety and efficiency of 14 plants currently operational in Ukraine."@en1
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