A sentence on safety standards included in the EU's Green Deal following Lithuania's initiative will stifle Belarus' nuclear energy exports, according to the Lithuanian president.
EU leaders declared that "facilities in third countries need to adhere to the highest international environmental and safety standards," according to the summit's conclusions seen by BNS. The statement on safety standards comes next to the bloc's commitment for Europe to shift to a climate-neutral economy by 2050.
"[The sentence] sends a message [...] that those countries neighbouring the European Union can't use non-advanced technologies, or [...] dirty technologies, and, possibly, pose unjust and unfair competition to the EU by using the cost factor," Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda told reporters in Brussels.
EU leaders have taken Lithuania's concerns about unsafe projects in third countries into account, the president added.
Lithuania says the Astravyets nuclear plant under construction some 50 kilometers from Vilnius fails to meet international safety standards, an allegation that Minsk denies.
Belarus' authorities say the power plant could start operating in the first quarter of 2020.
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