Mr President, as we all remember, the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl occurred on 16 April 1986 and it is still history’s most serious nuclear accident. Radioactive contamination affected people and nature over vast areas in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, and, furthermore, some present EU countries also suffered. Around the destroyed unit a nuclear shelter was constructed hastily, given the conditions, to halt the spread of the pollution. Inside the deteriorating shelter there are still more than 200 tons of uranium and almost a ton of radionuclides, of which 80% is plutonium. The Chernobyl Shelter Fund was set up in December 1997 to finance the Shelter Implementation Plan, whose purpose it is to protect people and the environment from any new radioactive contamination. The preliminary estimate of the cost of the project for the period 1998 – 2005 was around USD 758 million. The first conference of the parties funding the project was held in New York in November 1997. A total of USD 400 million was obtained in the form of pledges from twenty-five countries, of which USD 50 million was payment in kind from Ukraine. This sum was sufficient for the first stage of the Shelter Implementation Plan. The European Union at the start financed the shelter work with a payment of USD 100 million, which was pledged at the Denver Summit in 1997. This amount came out of the general budget for 1998 – 1999. A second pledging conference was held in Berlin in July 2000 to organise a final contribution to the scheme. At that conference 22 countries in all decided to pledge around USD 320 million and the European Union pledged a further EUR 100 million for the period 2001 – 2004. The report being discussed concerns a proposal for a Council decision on a second contribution by the European Community to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for the Chernobyl Shelter Fund. The matter before us is thus Parliament’s opinion on the adoption of this regulation. The current financial situation is as follows. In all, USD 716 million has been pledged to the Chernobyl Shelter Fund and this includes USD 50 million from Ukraine as an in-kind contribution. Consequently, the fund still lacks money, as the estimate of costs is rather higher, totalling at least USD 720 – 750 million. For this reason – as this issue is being taken forward – it must be assumed and expected that Ukraine will also be able to organise this second contribution of funds. The problem here is that the budgetary authority in 1998 set a 13% ceiling regarding the use of TACIS appropriations in respect of nuclear safety projects. If this were to apply, the decisions could not be taken at present in the way the Commission and the Council have proposed. However, I support the Commission’s proposal to set aside EUR 100 million for the Chernobyl Shelter Fund as this project’s implementation is of vital importance to the people of the European Union and their safety. I also support the Commission’s proposal that there should be a special budget heading created for it so that the way in which the funds are being used can be monitored. Clearly, it will be difficult to use these funds as people will be working in difficult conditions in which there is a huge number of international players and where the situation is to some extent still vague in the administration of the Confederation of Independent States. All in all, I would nevertheless support this Council proposal, with certain amendments.

Political group: ELDR