Slovenia has brought its dispute with Croatia over funds for the decommissioning of the Krsko Nuclear Power Plant (NEK) to the attention of the European Commission, which however has not sided with either country. "Croatia has joint responsibility with Slovenia for the decommissioning and waste management liabilities relating to the NEK," a Commission spokesperson stressed.
The reply comes after the Slovenian Economy Ministry recently said it had submitted all documents regarding Slovenia's position on the matter to European Energy Commissioner Andris Pielbags.
Slovenia insists that Croatia is not fulfilling its obligations regarding funding for decommissioning and nuclear waste disposal, as it has not set up a special fund as envisaged in a 2003 bilateral agreement.
Slovenia has so far collected over EUR 125m on its fund, whereas Croatia said in August 2006 it had already accumulated EUR 8.6m on a separate budget item dedicated to decommissioning.
As a spokesman for Commissioner Pielbags said in a statement on Thursday, Croatia and Slovenia "should set up a common fund, or separate fund in each of the countries, to cover their share of liabilities."
They should also "allocate all the required financial resources to this fund and establish an adequate system of controls, so as to ensure that the resources set aside are only used for the purposes intended."
Quizzed about potential consequences for Croatia if it does not start fulfilling the agreements, the Commission said that the purpose of the accession negotiations was to "ensure that candidate countries are informed about all requirements arising from their accession."
A country has to fulfil all the obligations arising from the treaties "upon becoming a Member State," the statement reads.
Commenting on the fact that the Commission had been informed about the dispute, Economy Minister Andrej Vizjak said that the ministry wanted to "alert the Commission to Croatia's failure to honour signed bilateral treaties."
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