RIGA - The Baltic prime ministers, speaking at an energy forum held in Riga on June 12, hailed the new era of cooperation in the regional energy market but said much remained to be done in order to reduce dependency on Russia and increase connectivity to the European electricity network. The three also vowed to continue working together closely in the future, particularly in light of the imminent closing of Lithuania's nuclear power plant in 2009.
European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, who joined the prime ministers at the forum, called on the Baltic states to increase the use of renewable energy sources to 20 percent of supplies and to boost energy efficiency, which thanks to the Soviet legacy is the lowest in the European Union.
Piebalgs, a Latvian, said the "Baltic states should be at the heart of the energy transformation" in the European Union, the cornerstone of which was laid in January when Brussels unveiled an ambitious plan to lead a "post-industrial revolution."
The prime ministers 's Latvia's Aigars Kalvitis, Estonia's Andrus Ansip and Lithuania's Gediminas Kirkilas 's used the forum to float their wish-lists of energy projects and targets they would like to achieve with the help of EU money.
In particular, they called for more interconnectedness with the European energy market by linking Lithuania and Poland's grids and laying underwater cables to Sweden from both Lithuania and Latvia.
Late last year Estonia and Finland, amid much fanfare, launched the Estlink power cable under the Gulf of Finland, which finally connected the Baltic electricity market with that of the EU.
Ansip said Estlink was fully operational, profitable, and energy was being supplied in both directions. He said another underwater cable linking Estonia and Finland's grids could be built in the next year and also called for a gas pipeline that could deliver the blue flame across the Gulf of Finland.
The prime ministers, speaking at the forum, sidestepped poignant questions about disagreements over how to divide ownership of a new nuclear energy plant that would replace the existing one in Ignalina.
Originally, in the beginning of 2006, the Baltic states agreed on a three-way split for the project, which could cost up to 4 billion euros. Toward the end of the year Poland expressed an interest in helping build the new plant on an equal basis, suggesting four-way ownership.
Soon, however, Lithuania began insisting on a larger stake for itself given its increased share of responsibilities and began negotiating from this standpoint without reaching complete agreement with Latvia and Estonia.
During his speech, Kalvitis said that Latvia supported the nuclear power plant but that the interests of all partners had to be taken into consideration.
Ansip, meanwhile, said that the project was good but that two key questions remain to be solved: the reactor's total capacity and ownership participation.
Speaking in lieu of Kirkilas at a press conference, Deividas Matulionis, state secretary of Lithuania's Foreign Ministry, said that each country would receive an equal stake and the proportionate share of the new plant's electricity output to sell as it chooses.
Kirkilas said earlier in the day that a draft law on the new atomic plant would be passed by Parliament in two - three weeks.
The three prime ministers agreed that the Baltics' energy capacities and resources would be put to the test once the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant is closed in 2009. Estonia, which receives most of its energy needs from oil shale, is confident it will find the additional megawatts, Ansip said.
Lithuania is preparing to modernize its conventional power stations and build a new 400 megawatt plant, according to Matulionis.
Latvia, by contrast, still has to come up with an interim plan to fill the deficit, though Kalvitis said the Economy Ministry was crunching the numbers and the government would approve a final plan in the next two-three months.
Latvia, said Kalvitis, stands to lose the most from Ignalina's closure since it is the biggest net importer of electricity.
All three Baltic states were circumspect in assessing Russia's behavior on the regional energy market and stressed the fact that Russia depends on Europe as much as vice-versa. Kirkilas did, however, reiterate that Lithuanian specialists have still not been given the opportunity to inspect the alleged pipeline damage in Belarus that led to the disruption of oil supplies in July 2006.
Lithuania's Mazeikiu Nafta, the only refinery in the Baltics, has been forced to import feedstock through the Butinge terminal on the Baltic Sea as a result of Russia's refusal to repair the pipe.
Piebalgs, who has expressed skepticism about the nuclear power plant in the past, called on the Baltic states to meet the 20 percent target for renewable energy by the 2020 deadline and to increase energy efficiency.
