6/18/2007

Promises to strengthen ties with Poland

Polish and Estonian leaders vowed in Warsaw on June 13 to strengthen political, energy and transport links between Poland and in Baltic EU states, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported. "We need more interconnections," Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said following talks with Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
"We agree the Baltic states are like and isolated island in the European Union - we agree we have to build up our interconnections," Ansip was quoted as saying, throwing his support behind a so-called "energy bridge" hooking up the power grids of Poland and Lithuanian. The linkage will plug in all three Baltic EU members including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania into the EU-wide electrical power grid.
The leaders also agreed a planned new reactor at Lithuania's existing Ignalina nuclear power facility would further boost energy security in the EU's Baltic region. Plans call for the new Ignalina facility to open in 2015. The existing Soviet-built Ignalina reactor currently serves some 70 percent of Lithuania's energy needs, but is slated to be closed later this decade under an agreement with the European Union.
Baltic states Estonia and Latvia were the first to join Lithuania in the project, estimated to cost five-six billion Euro. Poland and her Baltic partners are particularly interested in reducing heavy energy dependence on Russia and diversifying energy sources in order to boost energy security in the EU's north-eastern corner. Polish Prime Minister Kaczynski also endorsed the building of the controversial Via Baltica highway linking Poland and the Baltics. The European Commission and environmental protection groups object to the existing plans calling for the highway to be built through the protected Rospuda Valley and wetlands.
Turning to ongoing controversy over the European Union's future blanket constitution, Polish Prime Minister Kaczynski said his country fully supported "strengthening" and introducing greater efficiency within the EU. But Poland has come under heavy pressure recently to drop its objection to a voting system in the existing draft of the EU's future constitution.
With a population upwards of 38 million, Poland was the largest of the 10 EU newcomers to have joined the bloc in 2004. Estonia, with a population of roughly 1.4 million is among the bloc's smallest and is one of 18 member states which has already formally approved the EU's draft constitution.
Passage of the constitutional treaty was shelved after voters in France and the Netherlands torpedoed it in separate referenda in 2005. Current holder of the EU's rotating presidency Germany has jump-started work on the project. All 27 members must give their seal of approval in order for the document to come into force. Key decisions on the issue are expected at an upcoming EU Summit in Brussels June 21-22, but Poland's possible veto could stall further progress.

Source:neurope.eu



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