WRITTEN QUESTION E-1304/02 by Kathalijne Buitenweg (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Financial accountability of the EU for various aid to nuclear facilities.
Date: 2002-05-07
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU aid, EU financing, EU programme, European Investment Bank, decommissioning of power stations, nuclear power station, nuclear safety, third country

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of a Community-scale undertaking or group of undertakings shall initiate negotiations for the establish-
ment of an European works council
least 100 employees or their
representatives in at least two Member States.

if requested to do so by at

Any alleged breach of the national legislation implementing any of the above- mentioned Directives would
fall to be pursued, in the first instance, with the relevant authorities in the Member State concerned.

(1) Council Directive 2001/23/EC of 12 March 2001 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating
transfers of undertakings, businesses or parts of

to the safeguarding of employees’ rights in the event of
undertakings or businesses, OJ L 82, 22.3.2001.

(2) Council Directive 98/59/EC of 20 July 1998 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to

collective redundancies, OJ L 225, 12.8.1998.

(3) Council Directive 94/45/EC of 22 September 1994 on the establishment of a European Works Council or a
procedure in Community-scale undertakings and Community-scale groups of undertakings for the purposes of
informing and consulting employees.

(2003/C 52 E/066)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1304/02

by Kathalijne Buitenweg (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(7 May 2002)

Subject: Financial accountability of the EU for various aid to nuclear facilities

The European Union provides financial and organisational support to various nuclear facilities in the
current Member States of the EU and in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. It assists with the
operation of modern facilities and the decommissioning and dismantling of redundant, old and/or unsafe
complexes. Many nuclear power stations which have received substantial European resources for their
operation over a long period are now being or will eventually be decommissioned. In this case, a further
application can be made for considerable European financial support.

Although large sums of money are involved, the European Union’s financial accountability for the support
provided to nuclear installations is somewhat opaque. In addition,
it is unclear how much money is
disbursed through the European Investment Bank for these purposes.

1.
Can the Commission provide a clear and comprehensive statement of the resources spent by the
European Union on the start-up, operation, improvement, decommissioning and dismantling of nuclear
power installations in the Union, the applicant countries and other countries of Central and Eastern Europe
and the CIS, starting in 1990 and broken down by Community programme (for instance, TACIS and
PHARE)?

2.
Can the Commission also provide, on the basis of the breakdown outlined in paragraph 1, details of
the amounts that the European Investment Bank (EIB) has invested in activities relating to the start-up,
operation, upgrading, decommissioning and dismantling of nuclear power station facilities in the Union,
the candidate countries and other countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(27 June 2002)

Neither under the PHARE and TACIS programmes, nor within the Union itself, has any Community or
European Investment Bank (EIB)
financial support been provided for the start-up of nuclear power
installations. Community assistance is generally focused on nuclear safety issues, as stated in the
Communication from the Commission to the Council and the Parliament on ‘Commission support to

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nuclear safety in Newly Independent Countries and Central and Eastern Europe’ of 6 September 2000 (1).
This has included, operational support, support
to the nuclear regulators, waste management and
decommissioning issues, safeguards and offsite emergency preparedness.

As regards the PHARE financial instrument available to support Central and Eastern European candidate
countries, for example, Community grant assistance has not been made available for the start-up of any
nuclear power installation. The PHARE programme has provided grant financial assistance to nuclear
safety measures at nuclear power plants in beneficiary countries. Thus, grant support reaches merely as far
as safety is part of the operation of such an installation. The operation of power plants, as such, is the sole
responsibility of the utility company operating the plant. PHARE-funded assistance will not be made
available for decommissioning at the end of the normal technical lifetime of nuclear power plants.

Exclusively in support of the early closure and decommissioning of reactors of RBMK and VVER 440/230
design in Lithuania, Bulgaria and Slovakia, the Commission has, since 1999, programmed Community-
funded assistance through the PHARE financial instrument. This assistance is linked to the three candidate
countries’ commitments to the early closure of the power reactors at the Ignalina, Kozloduy 1-4 and
Bohunice V1 Nuclear Power Plants. To date, the Commission has programmed the following Community
assistance from overall commitments envisaged for the current Financial Perspective (2000-2006):

(EUR million)

Lithuania

Bulgaria

Slovakia

Overall commitment

Programmed

165

100

(1) 2 × 100

150

96,85

55

(1)

The second tranche of EUR 100 million is conditional on
the Bulgarian authorities deciding the closure dates for
Kozloduy 3 and 4 in accordance with the Understanding of
29 November 1999.

The bulk of this support is delivered through three International Decommissioning Support Funds,
managed by the European Bank for reconstruction and development (EBRD). A further part of the
assistance is directed to support the national nuclear safety regulatory authorities of the three countries in
licensing the decommissioning measures. On 30 January 2002, the Commission proposed to the Council,
in an Information Note on the Common Financial Framework 2004-2006 for the Accession Negotiations,
to provide additional decommissioning support to Lithuania.

To a very limited extent, PHARE grant assistance has been provided to support the preparation of Euratom
loan decisions. Subsequently, the Commission extended an Euratom loan amounting to EUR 212,5 million
for the modernisation of Kozloduy Units 5 & 6, whilst a Romanian loan request regarding Cernavoda Unit
2 is still pending.

Whilst the PHARE nuclear safety programme initially also provided support to operators for urgent
nuclear safety improvement measures, the programme has since clearly shifted towards supporting the
nuclear safety regulatory authorities. The commercially operating utility companies are expected to fund
safety measures from their own resources. Currently, apart from the focus on nuclear safety regulatory
authorities, PHARE-funded support is also mainly addressing measures in the field of radioactive waste
management in candidate countries.

The Tacis support to nuclear safety is regulated by the Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) 99/2000 of
29 December 1999 concerning the provision of assistance to the partner States in Eastern Europe and
Central Asia (2) which covers the period 2000-2006 and sets out three priorities for the nuclear safety
programme in the New Independent States (NIS): supporting the promotion of an effective nuclear safety
culture, in particular through continuous support for regulatory bodies and, at the plant level, through on
site-assistance; supporting the development and implementation of spent fuel, decommissioning and
nuclear waste management strategies, including in North West Russia in the context of wider international
cooperation; and contributing to relevant Union supported international initiatives such as the Group of
seven most
initiative on the closure of Chernobyl.
In addition, support has been provided with the preparation of Euratom loan financing for the completion
and safety upgrading of nuclear power plants in the final stage of completion.

industrialised countries and the Union (G7/EU)

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Special mention should also be made of support provided for the decommissioning of the Chernobyl plant,
where EUR 230 million were committed from 1994 to 2001, including a contribution of EUR 190 million
to the Chernobyl Shelter Fund managed by the EBRD. Concerning the replacement capacity after the
closure of the Chernobyl plant, Ukraine is carrying out the completion and safety upgrading of two VVER
1000 reactors at Rovno and Khmelnitsky. Financing of this project includes loans from EBRD and Euratom
of USD 215 million and the Euro equivalent of USD 585 million, respectively. However, although both
loans were approved in December 2000, certain conditions remain to be fulfilled before the loan decisions
can become effective.

the Communication from the
As regards total Community funding for nuclear safety operations,
Commission to the Council and the Parliament on ‘Commission support to nuclear safety in Newly
Independent Countries and Central and Eastern Europe’ of 6 September 2001, provides detailed
information on the nature and scope of Community-funded support throughout the 1990s. Annex 1 of
this report gives a year-to-year breakdown of TACIS and PHARE-funded support, amounting respectively
to EUR 531,78 million and EUR 192,94 million for the period 1990-1999, for nuclear safety measures.
To this amount, a further EUR 22,85 million need to be added from the 2001 PHARE nuclear safety
programme (no such allocations were made in 2000), as well as EUR 53 million and EUR 51 million
committed for TACIS nuclear safety programmes in 2000 and 2001.

During the same period since 1990, the European Investment Bank has not financed any nuclear power
plant either within the Community or in Central and Eastern Europe. Within the Community, the
European Investment Bank provided a total of EUR 238,03 million in support of three projects in the
nuclear energy sector during the years 1990 to 1993. These projects did, however, not relate to nuclear
power plants, but to a uranium enrichment plant at Tricastin (France, Rhône-Alpes), the treatment of
nuclear fuels at Sellafield (United Kingdom), and a nuclear waste treatment plant at Dessel/Antwerp
(Belgium).

(1) COM(2000) 493 final.
(2) OJ L 12, 18.1.2000.

(2003/C 52 E/067)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1331/02

by Elspeth Attwooll (ELDR) to the Council

(8 May 2002)

Subject: Fish exports to Poland

The fishing industry in the UK, and in particular in the Shetland Islands, is currently being denied a level of
access to the Polish market for their fish products equal to that of their Norwegian counterparts. Import
tariffs on imports of British fish remain in place, while Norway receives favourable access under a bilateral
agreement with Poland.

On behalf of the Community, the Commission recently approved an additional protocol to the EU/Poland
Europe Agreement phasing out import tariffs on fish products. Will the Council outline the agreed
measures and confirm the date on which they will definitively enter into force?

Reply

(11 November 2002)

The Honourable Member is referring to the Additional Protocol to the Europe Agreement with Poland,
from the
which, on 17 December 2001,
Commission, further to negotiations which the latter had conducted with Poland (and with the other
associated countries) with a view to the liberalisation of trade in fish and fishery products. As a result of
this Agreement, the duties applied by both Parties to the Agreement for imports of these products shall be
reduced by a third when the Protocol enters into force, and by a further third one year later, to attain full
liberalisation two years after the entry into force of the Protocol (or earlier if commonly agreed).

the Council decided to conclude acting on a proposal