Non-governmental organizations MANS and Green Home submitted to the representatives of the European Union (EU) in Podgorica report on economic non-profitability of the project of construction of the Second block of the Thermal Power Plant (TE) Pljevlja and the study of the costs of health and the number of premature deaths that would caused new TE during 40 years of operation, in order to inform the highest representatives of the international community in the country with this controversial project, especially with the fact that it can be a prelude to granting state aid contrary to the strict requirements of the EU.
As a candidate for full membership, Montenegro shall comply with the Stabilization and Association Agreement signed with the EU, so any unauthorized state aid would constituted its direct violation.
In that regard, it is particularly worrying that the Government and Nation Power Company (EPCG) for months negotiate behind closed doors with representatives of the Czech company Skoda Praha on conditions for financing the project for which is announced the issuance of government guarantees, and it is expected that the Government will due to unprofitable investment, at the expense of consumers subsidize the cost of electricity from new TE.
Also, Montenegro is obliged to comply with a range of European directives in other areas that are associated with the project of the Second block, primarily in the area of environmental protection and climate change. This is particularly important when one takes into account that from the EU continuously are coming clear messages that we should reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and progressively abandon the production of electricity from Thermal Power Plants.
However, to the Montenegrin public until today are not presented even basic information about the impact of the new TE on the environment and human health, but also in the Government do not have any estimates on how much the project to the Second block could slow or even stop the process of negotiating process of the country in European integration and getting membership in the EU.
Also, the staging of transparency and participation is a constant which characterizes work of Montenegrin Government, so in that way the local public can not influence any strategic project nor to get basic information on its realization, although citizens pay that with their own money, often in amounts measured in hundreds of millions of euros. This problem was recognized by the EU, so the annual reports on the progress of Montenegro continually emphasize that the Government should strengthen the transparency and involvement of interested parties.
Therefore, MANS and Green Home documentation of the Second block will submit and to the individual parliamentary groups in the European Parliament to inform them about the intention of the Government to start with another project that is just as risky for the country’s economy and the environment as well, which could result in a violation of international obligations of Montenegro in relation to European integration process and accession to the EU.
MANS and Green Home earlier invited the Government to suspend the implementation of the project of the Second block, until it is made a comprehensive and independent study showing the impact of future power plants on human health, and how much, in the coming decades, would be costs of health and social expenditures due to the early death and various diseases caused by the operation of the new block.
Greenpeace estimated health costs, that will apply to all taxpayers, at 2.5 billion euros over 40 years of operation of the Second block. The costs of building, financing and related investments (opening mines, re-cultivation, reconstruction of existing Power Plant, the costs of carbon dioxide) will exceed one billion euros, although the Government and EPCG show only costs of the construction of the Second block and equipment procurement.
MANS
Green Home
