DECLARATION BY THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
The European Commission confirms its understanding that the provisions of Community law applicable to
the Sovereign Base Areas pursuant to Article 3(a) of this Protocol include:
(a) Council Regulation (EC) No 3448/93 of 6 December 1993 laying down the trade arrangements
applicable to certain goods resulting from the processing of agricultural products;
(b) Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999 laying down general provisions on the
Structural Funds, to the extent required by Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17 May
1999 on support for rural development from the European Agriculture Guidance and Guarantee
Fund (EAGGF) for the purpose of financing rural development measures in the Sovereign Base
Areas under the EAGGF Guarantee Section.
Protocol No 4
on the Ignalina nuclear power plant in Lithuania
THE HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES,
DECLARING
the Union's willingness to continue to provide adequate additional Community assistance to
Lithuania's decommissioning effort also after Lithuania's accession to the European Union for the period
until 2006 and beyond and noting that Lithuania, bearing in mind this expression of Union solidarity, has
committed to close Unit 1 of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant before 2005 and Unit 2 by 2009,
RECOGNISING
that the decommissioning of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant with two 1 500 MW
RBMK-type reactor units inherited from the former Soviet Union is of an unprecedented nature and
represents for Lithuania an exceptional financial burden not commensurate with the size and economic
strength of the country and that this decommissioning will continue beyond the Community's current
Financial Perspective,
NOTING
the need to adopt implementing provisions for the additional Community assistance to address the
consequences of the closure and the decommissioning of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant,
NOTING
that Lithuania will pay due attention to the needs of the regions most affected by the closure of
the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant in its use of Community assistance,
DECLARING
that certain measures that will be supported through public aid shall be considered as
compatible with the internal market, such as the decommissioning of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant,
and the environmental upgrading in line with the acquis and modernisation of conventional electricity
production capacity needed to replace the two Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant reactors after their closure,
HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:
Article 1
Acknowledging the readiness of the Union to provide adequate
additional Community assistance to the efforts by Lithuania to
decommission the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant and high-
lighting this expression of solidarity, Lithuania commits to
the closure of Unit 1 of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant
before 2005 and of Unit 2 of this plant by 31 December
2009 at the latest and to the subsequent decommissioning of
these units.
EN
944
Official Journal of the European Union
23.9.2003
Article 2
1.
During the period 2004-2006, the Community shall
provide Lithuania with additional financial assistance in
support of its efforts to decommission and to address the
consequences of the closure and decommissioning of the
Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (hereinafter ‘the Ignalina
Programme’).
2.
Measures under the Ignalina Programme shall be decided
and implemented in accordance with the provisions laid down
in Council Regulation (EEC) No 3906/89 of 18 December
1989 on economic aid to certain countries of Central and
Eastern Europe (
1
), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No
2500/2001 (
2
).
3.
The Ignalina Programme shall, inter alia, cover: measures
in support of the decommissioning of the Ignalina Nuclear
Power Plant; measures for the environmental upgrading in
line with the acquis and modernisation measures of conven-
tional production capacity to replace the production capacity
of the two Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant reactors; and other
measures which are consequential to the decision to close and
decommission this plant and which contribute to the necessary
restructuring, environmental upgrading and modernisation of
the energy production, transmission and distribution sectors in
Lithuania as well as to enhancing the security of energy supply
and improving energy efficiency in Lithuania.
4.
The Ignalina Programme shall include measures to
support plant personnel in maintaining a high level of oper-
ational safety at the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant in the periods
prior to the closure and during the decommissioning of the
said reactor units.
5.
For the period 2004-2006 the Ignalina Programme shall
amount to EUR 285 million in commitment appropriations, to
be committed in equal annual tranches.
6.
The contribution under the Ignalina Programme may, for
certain measures, amount to up to 100 % of the total expen-
diture. Every effort should be made to continue the
co-financing practice established under the pre-accession
assistance for Lithuania's decommissioning effort as well as
to attract co-financing from other sources, as appropriate.
7.
The assistance under the Ignalina Programme, or parts
thereof, may be made available as a Community contribution
to the Ignalina International Decommissioning Support Fund,
managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Devel-
opment.
8.
Public aid from national, Community and international
sources:
— for the environmental upgrading in line with the acquis and
modernisation measures of the Lithuanian Thermal Power
Plant in Elektrenai as the key replacement for the
production capacity of the two Ignalina Nuclear Power
Plant reactors; and
— for the decommissioning of the Ignalina Nuclear Power
Plant
shall be compatible with the internal market as defined in the
EC Treaty.
9.
Public aid from national, Community and international
sources in support of Lithuania's efforts to address the conse-
quences of the closure and of the decommissioning of the
Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant may, on a case by case basis,
be considered to be compatible – under the EC Treaty –
with the internal market, in particular public aid provided for
enhancing the security of energy supply.
Article 3
1.
Recognising that the decommissioning of the Ignalina
Nuclear Power Plant is of a long-term nature and represents
for Lithuania an exceptional financial burden not commen-
surate with its size and economic strength, the Union shall,
in solidarity with Lithuania, provide adequate additional
Community assistance to the decommissioning effort beyond
2006.
2.
The Ignalina Programme will be, for this purpose,
seamlessly
continued
and
extended
beyond
2006.
Implementing
provisions
for
the
extended
Ignalina
Programme shall be decided in accordance with the
procedure laid down in Article 56 of the Act of Accession
and enter into force, at the latest, by the date of expiry of
the current Financial Perspective.
3.
The Ignalina Programme, as extended in accordance with
the provisions of Article 3(2) of this Protocol, shall be based on
the same elements and principles as described in Article 2 of
this Protocol.
4.
For the period of the next Financial Perspectives, the
overall average appropriations under the extended Ignalina
Programme shall be appropriate. Programming of these
resources will be based on actual payment needs and
absorption capacity.
Article 4
Without any prejudice to the provisions of Article 1, the
general safeguard clause referred to in Article 37 of the Act
of Accession shall apply until 31 December 2012 if energy
supply is disrupted in Lithuania.
EN
23.9.2003
Official Journal of the European Union
945
(
1
) OJ L 375, 23.12.1989, p. 11.
(
2
) OJ L 342, 27.12.2001, p. 1.