Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-03-14-Speech-2-193"
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"en.20000314.10.2-193"2
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"Mr Trakatellis, opinion is extremely divided as to how unsafe the reactors 3 and 4 actually are. I was very surprised to learn that I was openly criticised by some Member States following the conclusion of the agreement in Bulgaria, because this agreement was said to be too hard on Bulgaria and to go far too far, and because safety standards at these power stations were said not to be as bad as the Commission was claiming. Now it is up to me who I believe. I believe the reports that were compiled at the outset, and I still maintain that we must abide by the principle of risk avoidance in this case.
On the other hand, I must ask you to bear in mind that the decision on whether to go for the nuclear option in energy production is the sovereign right of each and every State. The Commission is no more able than Parliament or the Council to forbid any country in the world from using nuclear energy, or to force them to shut down reactors without delay. All we can do is put a package together, as we have done in Lithuania and Slovakia, and, just recently in Bulgaria too, that enables the country in question to deal with the economic and financial consequences of shutdown operations of this kind, and their impact on society and infrastructure.
It must be left to the country concerned to determine how to implement the objectives set as quickly as possible. All I can say is that this is what proved to be attainable during negotiations, which I headed myself part of the time. If we had tried to achieve more, then we would have failed to reach agreement and ended up with no shutdown dates whatsoever. You can always do one of two things in such cases: either accept the attainable or maintain a very intransigent attitude, which may, at the end of the day, salve your conscience on the environmental policy front, but will leave you empty-handed. As a matter of fact, I believe we achieved a particularly positive outcome in Bulgaria, in view of the extremely difficult situation there.
I would like to point something else out to you, somewhat circuitously, but you will soon see why. As far as the shutdown dates for blocks 3and 4 are concerned, it says in the text that this will be decided on in 2002. So that is quite some way off the shutdown date we had mind. As the Commission understands it, this shutdown will take place by latest – and I repeat, latest – 2006, which is also stated in the text. The fact that the Bulgarian government signed this text without questioning this, has a certain political significance. That is all I can say on the matter, but I think you know what I am driving at."@en1
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