Lithuania: The EU Bill Falls Due
Lithuania generates 70% of its domestic
energy at Ignalina Nuclear Plant.
Now it must be closed because of a fiat
from the Brussels Diktat.
Goodby energy security! Goodbye sovereignty!
Goodbye freedom of action! Goodbye public debate!
Goodbye democracy!
energy at Ignalina Nuclear Plant.
Now it must be closed because of a fiat
from the Brussels Diktat.
Goodby energy security! Goodbye sovereignty!
Goodbye freedom of action! Goodbye public debate!
Goodbye democracy!
Lithuanians were doubtless told in 2003 - as many an aspiring EU member had been before and will be again - that joining the European Union would bring jobs, prosperity, streets paved with gold, fields filled to brimming with milk and honey, peace, Eden and mother's apple pie all rolled into one.
Now, however, the Lithuanians are about to be presented with the bill.
Some seventy per cent of her domestic energy is generated by a Soviet-era Chernobyl-style nuclear power station called Ignalina. As part of the deal struck by the ruling Lithuanian political class in its headlong rush into EU membership the plant was deemed to be a potential disaster in the offing and they therefore agreed to close it.
The world five years on is a very different one, energy-wise, from that in which Lithuanian politicians cheerfully tossed their energy security into the greedy hands of the Brussels Diktat.
Now, however, the EU says it must shut.
For Lithuanians the price is going to be very very painful.
In the first instance the cost of energy is set to rise by an eye-watering 30%. Think of how that will jigger the household budget of your average Lithuanian......
Next is the little problem of energy security. Lithuania was proud and pleased to regain its independence after some sixty years of groaning under the Russian yoke and counted Ignalina as an important manifestation of that independence. Now they are going to be forced to replace its energy with ebergy derived from its hated enemy: Russia. And, since Russia strong-armed Ukraine with an energy cut-off not so long ago, Lithuanians will understand only too well what the loss of energy security will now mean: having to kow-tow to Russian bully boys once more.
Indeed, as the Telegraph reports, they have already had a taste of Russian tactics:
Note the date: membership of the EU did not stop Russia from flexing its muscles. Nor will it now. A 30% hike is probably a politician's figure: chances are it will be a lot more than that in short order.
But what of the wider implications for Lithuania?
The fact is that their politicians betrayed their independence in a fundamental way for a mess of pottage to a group of foreign unelected and unaccountable functionaries. Orders now come from the centre. Why is that any different from the way it used to be in the old Soviet Union?
Now it may well be that this plant is a nightmare waiting to happen. It may well be that it should be shut. But that, given the consequences of shutting it, should surely be the subject of informed public debate amongst the citizens of Lithuania whose bills are now set to rise so dramatically. Surely those who have to pay the bill should be the ones to decide how best to solve the problem?
But no such debate can now take place. It is set in stone and must close. Democracy? Let the Little People talk and then do as they are told. They should be grateful they were allowed in so quickly. The plant begins to close in the next couple of days.
Thus it ever is with the Brussels Diktat. It is the Big State writ large. Mummy knows best, so shut your plant and get your wallet out.
COMMENT THREAD
Now, however, the Lithuanians are about to be presented with the bill.
Some seventy per cent of her domestic energy is generated by a Soviet-era Chernobyl-style nuclear power station called Ignalina. As part of the deal struck by the ruling Lithuanian political class in its headlong rush into EU membership the plant was deemed to be a potential disaster in the offing and they therefore agreed to close it.
The world five years on is a very different one, energy-wise, from that in which Lithuanian politicians cheerfully tossed their energy security into the greedy hands of the Brussels Diktat.
Now, however, the EU says it must shut.
For Lithuanians the price is going to be very very painful.
In the first instance the cost of energy is set to rise by an eye-watering 30%. Think of how that will jigger the household budget of your average Lithuanian......
Next is the little problem of energy security. Lithuania was proud and pleased to regain its independence after some sixty years of groaning under the Russian yoke and counted Ignalina as an important manifestation of that independence. Now they are going to be forced to replace its energy with ebergy derived from its hated enemy: Russia. And, since Russia strong-armed Ukraine with an energy cut-off not so long ago, Lithuanians will understand only too well what the loss of energy security will now mean: having to kow-tow to Russian bully boys once more.
Indeed, as the Telegraph reports, they have already had a taste of Russian tactics:
In 2007 Russia shut down an oil pipeline to Lithuania for "technical reasons" in the wake of sale of a Lithuanian oil refinery to a Polish company instead of a Russian firm.
Note the date: membership of the EU did not stop Russia from flexing its muscles. Nor will it now. A 30% hike is probably a politician's figure: chances are it will be a lot more than that in short order.
But what of the wider implications for Lithuania?
The fact is that their politicians betrayed their independence in a fundamental way for a mess of pottage to a group of foreign unelected and unaccountable functionaries. Orders now come from the centre. Why is that any different from the way it used to be in the old Soviet Union?
Now it may well be that this plant is a nightmare waiting to happen. It may well be that it should be shut. But that, given the consequences of shutting it, should surely be the subject of informed public debate amongst the citizens of Lithuania whose bills are now set to rise so dramatically. Surely those who have to pay the bill should be the ones to decide how best to solve the problem?
But no such debate can now take place. It is set in stone and must close. Democracy? Let the Little People talk and then do as they are told. They should be grateful they were allowed in so quickly. The plant begins to close in the next couple of days.
Thus it ever is with the Brussels Diktat. It is the Big State writ large. Mummy knows best, so shut your plant and get your wallet out.
COMMENT THREAD
