Czechs, Austrians look to EU in nuclear row

The dispute over the Temelin nuclear power plant is deepening

In this story: Germany joins the fray Prague counts the cost of protests RELATED STORIES, SITES

VIENNA, Austria (Reuters) -- Austria and the Czech Republic are both appealing to the European Union for action in an increasingly acrimonious dispute over the opening of a nuclear plant on the Czech side of the border between the two countries.

Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel has called on the EU to take a firm stand on the Czech Republic's new Temelin nuclear power plant, which Austria fears is unsafe.

The Czech government has also appealed for the EU to intervene over Austrian anti-nuclear protesters who are blockading the main border crossings between the two countries for the fifth consecutive day.

The Czech foreign ministry said on Thursday it would officially ask the EU's executive, the European Commission, to intervene to help stop the protests.

Austria is now pledging to raise the issue of the controversial Temelin facility at an EU summit this weekend.

Schuessel said he found it inexplicable that the 15-nation bloc had guidelines on the protection of birds but no minimum standards for new nuclear facilities.

"I think we should change this," he told a news conference.

"We will raise it in some form (at the Biarritz summit). We will address this and will call for the clear involvement of the European Union."

Germany added its voice to the controversy with Environment Minister Juergen Trittin saying the launch of Temelin was casting a pall over the Czech Republic's bid to join the EU.

Trittin told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung in an interview: "It is throwing a shadow over the entry talks."

Prague insists the nuclear power station is safe

Austria and the Czech Republic have been trading threats in the row over the Soviet-designed nuclear plant since it was started up on Monday.

The Prague authorities insist the plant is safe but fiercely anti-nuclear Austria, which has no atomic plants of its own, fears Temelin does not meet Western safety standards.

Austria has asked Prague to scrap or at least impose new safety checks on the plant and has threatened to bloc Czech membership of the EU, but the issue has not made waves in other EU countries, apart from the expressions of concern by the German government.

"We are not interested in blocking the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union, but we want to speed up security and safety measures in nuclear power plants," Schuessel said. He rejected Prague's call for the protesters' blockades to be lifted, saying: "I am a democrat and I don't want to ask police to stop democratic protests in Upper Austria."

Average daily traffic flows have been cut from about 17,000 people to just hundreds because of the protest.

Czech Deputy Prime Minister Jan Kavan said financial losses as a result of the border blockade, which began on Sunday, would be assessed.

The power plant was started up on Monday

"When we get exact information on the extent of damages, we will include it in material that we will send to Brussels via the EU ambassador to the Czech Republic Ramiro Cibrian in the course of the day," he said.

"I firmly hope that at midnight on Friday when the permission for the demonstrations issued by the North Austrian authorities expires, the Austrian side will stop with the demonstrations," he said.

Dozens of trucks have been stuck at the border and a Czech deadline expired last night for Austria to take action to stop the demonstrators' blockade.

Kavan said he was confident of the Czech position in the matter, the country's biggest diplomatic row since the end of Communism, and added that he thought Austria's intransigence regarding the blockades could again lead to its isolation.

"The Czech Republic does not want to contribute to a new isolation of Austria. I don't think it would be to Austria's advantage, if...14 members of the EU supported the position of the Czech Republic," he said.

"The Czech Republic's arguments are fully shared by our European partners," he added.

Austria suffered a seven-month boycott by its EU partners earlier this year after Joerg Haider's far-right Freedom Party, which many regard as racist and xenophobic, entered government.

The political sanctions were lifted last month.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Czech warning over nuclear blockade
October 11, 2000
Czech nuclear plant sparks fury
October 10, 2000
Disputed Czech nuclear plant counts down to launch
September 21, 2000

Temelin Project
Temelin Action
CEZ Power Company
International Atomic Energy Agency

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