Reply to Recommendation 1209 (1993) on nuclear power plants in central and eastern Europe

23 June 1993

Doc. 6876

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS

Reply to Recommendation 1209 (1993)

on nuclear power plants in central and eastern Europe

(adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 14 June 1993

at the 496th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies)

1. The Committee of Ministers shares the concern of the Parliamentary Assembly over the state of the nuclear power plants in central and eastern Europe and the potential threats they pose to people and the environment in Europe. The important issues raised by Recommendation 1209 have not so far been the subject of work undertaken by the Council of Europe at the intergovernmental level.

2. Other international organisations are very active in this field. Thus, the G7 at its Munich Summit in July 1992 launched a multilateral programme of action for nuclear power plants in central and eastern Europe and appealed for contributions from its member states.

3. The European Community is making an important contribution to nuclear security in the countries of central Europe and the former Soviet Union. It is planned that by the end of 1993 the Community will have spent 330 million ecus to promote nuclear safety in this region. The Commission of European Communities has recently decided to pay a sum of 20 million ecus to the "Nuclear safety" account which the G7 decided to create during its Munich meeting. The participation of the Community aims at completing the already existing bilateral programmes, i.e. the TACIS (Technical Assistance to the new Independent States) and PHARE programmes.

In 1992, 66 million ecus were allocated to the TACIS programme, and the PHARE programme has dedicated 45 million ecus to implementing programmes for Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.

4. The Committee of Ministers has decided to transmit this recommendation to the governments of member states, to the governments of member states of the OECD and the states participating in the CSCE which are not member states of the Council of Europe. It has also been decided to transmit the text to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Commission of the European Communities and the OECD.

5. The Committee of Ministers has further decided to transmit Recommendation 1209 (1993) for information to the competent bodies of the Partial Agreement "Co-operation Group for the Prevention of, Protection against, and Organisation of Relief in Major Natural and Technological Disasters", in order to enable them to take account of it in the course of their work.