The Latvian prime minister promised his Lithuanian counterpart not to trade in Belarusian energy. They also stated that they equally assess the issues of electricity trading with third countries.
Ingrida Šimonyte made one important point during her visit to Latvia. The political assessment of the situation is exactly the same for the Lithuanian and Latvian governments.
“The Belarusian nuclear power plant is not safe, it is not a threat and there should be no electricity in the markets of the European Union or the Baltic States, in our markets – except for the technical flow, which is still needed,” said the Lithuanian Prime Minister.
Krisjanis Karins stated that the Latvian government had decided not to trade in Belarusian electricity.
“As for electricity trade with third countries on the political level, it seems that we are of the same opinion. As for the technical issues, they will be solved”, – the premier said during a joint press conference.
He also assured that among non-EU countries, Latvia buys electricity only from Russia.
“There is no possibility for Latvia to trade in Belarusian electricity. First of all, there is a physical barrier, i.e. Latvia has no intermediate electric power interconnection with Belarus. And also in terms of trade, there cannot be such electricity on the market. If there is, it is electricity from a third country. It can be electricity from Russia with an appropriate certificate of origin”, – the Latvian prime minister said.
For her part, the Lithuanian prime minister said that all technical issues related to the redirection of electricity flows must be resolved by experts in due course.
“It is very important for me, as the head of the Lithuanian government, to make sure that politically we do not have any differences of opinion on this issue”, – she said.
Šimonyte said that Lithuania is seeking an agreement on a new trilateral method for the purchase of electricity, which would be acceptable to all three countries. Šimonyte strongly hopes that the authorised colleagues will be able to reach this decision in a reasonably short period of time”.