The Belarusian Foreign Ministry has expressed deep disappointment with the decision of the Geneva Meeting of the Parties to the Espoo Convention stating that the Belarusian side allegedly did not provide the public with “sufficient” information in support of justifying the choice of the Ostrovets site for the construction of the Belarusian NPP.
These days, the parties to the Espoo Convention are discussing in Geneva the topic of environmental impact of nuclear energy.
The Foreign Ministry of Belarus on the decision of the Espoo Committee: The profile committee did not even bother to clarify how insufficient the Belarusian information was, probably because there is no such criterion as sufficiency in the convention itself, nor in the documents defining the rules for the work of the committee on its application. At the same time, in violation of the work procedures of the committee, Belarus was deprived of the opportunity to officially comment on unfounded claims.
The Foreign Ministry of Belarus on the decision of the Espoo Committee: Acting in good faith, we repeatedly initiated a dialogue on this topic with Lithuania, which avoided constructive interaction under any pretext. On the contrary, the issue of opposition to the Belarusian NPP project has become an obsessive idea in the Lithuanian political environment.
The Foreign Ministry of Belarus is confident that the example of manipulating the Espoo Convention is obvious and alarming evidence of degradation of the system of international law and calls on the international community to resist such practices.
