EU Summit Gave the European Commission a Task on BelNPP

At the summit in Brussels, the leaders of the European Union asked the European Commission to study possible measures to prevent the import of electricity from the Belarusian nuclear power plant. The leaders of the EU countries gave the European Commission the task to study the possibility of preventing the import of electricity generated by the Belarusian nuclear power plant (BelNPP) in Ostrovets. This follows from the communique of the European Council adopted at the EU summit in Brussels on Friday, December 11. "The European Council stresses the importance of ensuring the nuclear safety of the Belarusian nuclear power plant in Ostrovets and asks the European Commission to study possible measures to prevent commercial imports of electricity from nuclear facilities in third countries that do not meet the EU's recognized safety level," the summit's communiqué says. Recall, after the BelNPP was connected to the power grid of Belarus in November, Lithuania stopped commercial imports of electricity from this country. Vilnius has also agreed with Latvia and Estonia that they will not import Belarusian electricity either. DW reported on the way such a mechanism might work. BelNPP is considered unsafe in Lithuania primarily because of its location near the border between the two countries and 50 kilometers from Vilnius. The Belarusian authorities claim that the nuclear power plant in Ostrovets meets safety standards. However, there is no confirmation yet whether Minsk has complied with all the recommendations of the European Nuclear Safety Regulatory Group (ENSREG).