News

On 12 January, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vygaudas Ušackas had a telephone conversation with European Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs. They discussed the issues of Lithuania’s energy security.

Minister V.Ušackas acquainted the European Commissioner with the results of his visit to Riga on 9 January – it was agreed with Latvia to hasten the implementation of the joint Baltic energy interconnection projects and to create common energy market of the Baltic States. The Minister reiterated his position, which he has voiced in Riga that Lithuania was prepared to begin works regarding the Swedlink.

A.Piebalgas requested to supply the European Commission with concrete information on the Swedlink project: its financing, the schedule of implementation of the project, etc.

It was agreed that Minister V.Ušackas and European Commissioner A.Piebalgs would discuss those and other energy security issues in greater detail in the end of January in Brussels, and, later,  on 9-10 March in Vilnius, during the upcoming high-level meeting on the issues of creating common energy market of the Baltic States.

During the conversation, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and the European Commissioner also discussed the plans of Belarus to build a new nuclear power plant near the border with Lithuania and requested to include this issue on the EU-Belarus agenda.

European Commissioner A.Piebalgs indicated that, beyond any doubt, seeking to develop its relations with the EU, Belarus would have to consider the EU’s opinion on the construction of the new nuclear power plant near its border.

Herewith, A.Piebalgs suggested Lithuania to join forces for the construction of its own new nuclear power plant, which could also help to satisfy Belarus’s energy needs.