News

On 20-21 March in Geneva, the Implementation Committee of the UN Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention) is to begin a hearing into Lithuania’s claim that Belarus failed to meet convention requirements while building a new nuclear power plant (NPP).

Lithuania filed the complaint to the Implementation Committee of the Espoo Convention in June 2011. Lithuania claims that actions of Belarus fail to meet the requirements of this convention, i.e., until now Minsk has not replied to Lithuania’s questions, public hearings and bilateral consultations have not been organised, and, in the meantime, the project is being further developed.

It should be noted that already in January 2009, Belarus had started preparatory work for building the nuclear power plant at the construction site in Astraviets, only 50 km away from the capital of Lithuania. However, Belarus invited Lithuania to participate in the environmental impact assessment process only in August 2009. The Espoo Convention sets out that the construction of the object that has a transboundary impact on other countries should begin only after the completion of the environmental impact assessment, after answering questions raised by impacted countries and after organizing public hearings.

According to the data of the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, not only Lithuania, but also the European Commission has objected to the actions of Belarus, and informed Minsk in writing that the procedures for environmental impact assessment under the Espoo Convention were not completed and that Belarus had to answer remaining questions.