16 July 2008 - According to a report in the online newspaper, EUobserver.com Lithuania looks set to clash with the European Commission (EC) over a potential U-turn on the closure of its Ignalina nuclear power plant by the end of 2009 - a condition of its entry into the European Union (EU) in 2004.
A majority of the country's parliament members has called for a referendum on the issue and is seeking to postpone the closure of Ignalina's remaining parts until 2012, when a new nuclear power plant is expected to be up and running at the same site.
However, any move to violate existing commitments is certain to bring Lithuania on a collision course with the Commission.
Under its accession treaty, the Baltic state committed itself to closing the Chernobyl-like nuclear power plant. The first unit was closed in December 2004, with the remaining unit, which covers 70 per cent of the country's electricity needs, being mothballed within two years.
According to EC energy spokesperson Ferran Tarradellas Espuny, a delay would require re-negotiation of the accession treaty and approval by all EU governments. "Of course, it is Lithuania's right to have a referendum, but it is not going to change anything," he told Reuters.
Lithuania is not the only EU country putting the Commission under pressure over prior commitments linked to nuclear energy. Slovakia agreed to shut down two reactors in Jaslovske Bohunice - one in 2006, the second by the end of 2008.
However, Prime Minister Robert Fico wrote to Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso last month, calling for more flexibility because of its growing dependency on external electricity sources.
Nuclear power covers some 40 per cent of Slovakia's electricity demand.