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Doc. 8952
24 January 2001
Appeal to the G7 countries, Euratom and other international organisations, calling on them to honour their commitments entered into with regard to the closure of the Chornobyl nuclear power station
Written Declaration No. 313
This written declaration commits only the members who have signed it |
On 26 April 1986 the technological disaster of the 20th century, unprecedented in terms of its magnitude and consequences, occurred at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. It resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and led mankind to live in a permanent state of apprehension vis-ŕ-vis the future.
According to some estimates, this disaster will cost the world more than a trillion US dollars. However, the consequences of the disaster are not yet over.
In accordance with the memorandum of understanding between the governments of the G7 countries, the European Commission and the government of Ukraine on the question of the closure of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, Ukraine, in compliance with its international undertakings, closed the Chornobyl plant in advance of its initially scheduled date.
Having first of all decided not to house on its territory the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world and subsequently to close the Chornobyl plant, whose name is the symbol of a global disaster, Ukraine has made a considerable contribution to the process of building a safe world in the 21st century and a stable and secure third millennium.
For the future, there is still the ongoing process of converting the plant and the contaminated zone into an ecologically sound area and of solving the unprecedented economic, social and human problems.
Even before the closure, the Chornobyl nuclear power plant was discussed in international parliamentary debates attended by parliamentarians from Austria, Russia, France, the European Parliament, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, representatives of the European Commission, the UN, the EBRD and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and diplomats accredited in Ukraine.
They all expressed their understanding of the problems which Ukraine was facing all alone and they called on the G7 countries and the international organisations to honour their commitments concerning the closure of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, including one of the main conditions – that of granting the necessary funds for completing the construction of compensatory capacity: phase 2 of the Khmelnitsky nuclear plant and phase 4 of the Rivne nuclear plant, which could be ready towards mid-2001.
However, the EBRD and Euratom have imposed a series of conditions on Ukraine even before any funding. These conditions will require a certain amount of time to be complied with, in particular improvement of the legislative framework and the amassing of financial resources.
The undersigned, members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe call on the leaders of the G7 countries, the EBRD and the European Union to make an objective appraisal of Ukraine’s ability to satisfy all the preconditions laid down by the EBRD for the provision of the funds earmarked for the completion of the construction of phase 2 of the Khmelnitsky nuclear plant and phase 4 of the Rivne nuclear plant, and to simplify those conditions as much as possible.
Signed :
Rakhansky, Ukraine, UEL
Bársony, Hungary, SOC
Besostri, Italy, SOC
Bilovol, Ukraine, NR
Briane, France, EPP/CD
Christodoulides, Cyprus, UEL
Duka-Zólyomi, Slovakia, EPP/CD
Durrieu, France, SOC
Gaber, Ukraine, SOC
Hegyi, Hungary, SOC
Iwinski, Poland, SOC
Jaskiernia, Poland, SOC
Luczak, Poland, EPP/CD
Marmazov, Ukraine, UEL
Mocioi, Romania, NR
Mota Amaral, Portugal, EPP/CD
Oliynyk, Ukraine, UEL
Popescu, Ukraine, SOC
Poptodorova, Bulgaria, SOC
Prusak, Russia, GDE
Symonenko, Ukraine, UEL
____________________
Total = 21
SOC: Socialist Group
EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party
EDG: European Democratic Group
LDR : Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group
UEL: Group of the Unified European Left
NR: not registered in a group