Lietuva in brief - 2010-10-07

Lithuania wants to sign, in the first half of next year, a contract with the winner to build a nuclear power plant in the country, Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said, reports ELTA. By “the end of November we’ll know the bids,” Kubilius said. The government wants to replace the Soviet-made Ignalina facility that was shut in December to comply with European Union rules. It invited binding offers to build the power plant to reduce the Baltic nation’s dependence on Russian energy. Lithuania, which imports almost 50 percent of electricity supplies, wants to complete the nuclear plant in Visaginas between 2018 and 2020. The government in February short listed five companies it declined to name to invest in and build the power station, which may cost as much as 5 billion euros. Iberdrola, Spain’s largest electricity supplier, in May said it was one of the finalists.

Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said that Lithuanians should get rid of their inferiority complex and look to the future with more optimism. “We may have an inferiority complex and time is necessary to deal with it; there is need of a shining example of success, similar to those of big world famous foreign companies that are coming to Lithuania. In order to achieve that everyone needs to experience the economic improvement,” Kubilius told Ziniu Radijas radio station, reports ELTA. “The most important thing for us is the belief that if the situation is bad today, it won’t last forever. We need to believe that we are truly capable of reaching something that we can call the Lithuanian success story,” Kubilius said. “Lithuania is a small, dynamic and open country. I am sure that after 10, 20, 30 years it will remain ready to think innovatively, to act quickly and bravely. Lithuania will overtake Western Europe, if not by life quality, then by its dynamism,” promised Kubilius while on a visit to Denmark on Sept. 29.