Justice Minister Ján Čarnogurský yesterday in cabinet vetoed a draft agreement on the creation of an international fund for shutting down the Jaslovske Bohunice nuclear plant, to which the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is to contribute 6.5 billion crowns. The minister explained that he feared the money could be misused, and again claimed that the closure of Bohunice and the failure to complete the Mochovce nuclear facility would eventually force Slovakia to import energy to meet its needs. Čarnogurský later withdrew his objection, abstaining from a second cabinet vote and allowing the fund to be approved.
Slovakia has promised the EU that the plant will be shut down between 2006 and 2008, and the creation of the fund remains the last barrier to Slovakia’s fulfilling EU entry requirements in the field of energy policy. The closure will cost an estimated 16 billion crowns.
Compiled by Tom Nicholson from press reports.
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