Letter to the Delegates
Dear Delegates,
Welcome to Yale Model Government Europe 2017! My name is Monica Traniello, and this year I have the pleasure of serving as your chair for the Lithuanian cabinet. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with all of you and delve into some of the world’s most pressing issues.
Before you begin to prepare for the conference, I wanted to briefly introduce myself. I am a junior majoring in Global Affairs, with a focus on international development. Outside of academics and Yale International Relations Association, I participate in the student finance club and the women’s leadership initiative. I also enjoy studying new languages and exploring museums!
Confronting the issue of nuclear power in Lithuania will undoubtedly require much collaboration and debate. I am very confident that through our discussions on the issue, we will all obtain new perspectives and deepen our understandings of a critical challenge.
Good luck with your research! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at monica.traniello@yale.edu . Once again, I am looking forward to working with all of you and am excited to see you in November!
Best wishes,
Monica Traniello
Committee History
The cabinet of Lithuania is composed of Lithuania’s Prime Minister and 14 government ministers, who work together to exercise executive power in governing the Republic of Lithuania. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President of Lithuania and then, with the approval of the President and the Seimas (Lithuania’s parliamentary body), selects the cabinet members. The cabinet’s 14 ministries and their strategies are as follows:
1. Ministry of Agriculture
-“ The objectives of the Ministry of Agriculture is to shape public policy in the areas of agri-food sector, fisheries (except for conservation and control of fish stocks in inland waters), rural development, land reform, land-use planning, geodesy, cartography, real estate cadastre, state control of land use, engineering development and technical progress of infrastructure in agricultural and rural areas, development of renewable energy resources, research training, education, application of innovative technologies in the fields of agriculture, food industry and fisheries, land reclamation and reclamation investment, plant production, livestock sector, plant protection, seed production, breeding, fish farming, phytosanitary and veterinary, and national heritage, as well as organize, coordinate and control the implementation of the above public policy.”
https://zum.lrv.lt/en/about-the-ministry/introduction
2. Ministry of Culture
-The Ministry of Culture works to support libraries, ethnic education, regional education, children’s cultural education, cinema, literature, theater, international cooperation, visual arts, national language, cultural heritage, and other aspects crucial for sustaining Lithuania’s distinctive culture.
3. Ministry of Economy
-The Ministry of Economy works to protect Lithuania’s business environment, investments, innovation, exports, EU commitments, and state-owned enterprises.
4. Ministry of Education and Science
-“ The Ministry of Education and Science is a Government Institution of the Republic of Lithuania. It is responsible for educational and R&D policy development and implementation measures.
The Ministry of Education and Science is in charge of preparing and executing R&D policy. It analyses the application of laws and government decrees related to higher education and R&D, prepares drafts of by-laws, coordinates and implements international programmes in education and R&D, and makes proposals for the establishment, reorganisation, and cessation of higher education and research institutions. It used to be principal actor responsible for setting up R&D and Higher education policy. In 1998 Department of Science and Studies to the Ministry of Education and Science was established for this purpose. Its main task is to develop and implement State Policy on Science and Studies.”
https://rio.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en/organisations/ministry-education-and-science-republic-lithuania
5. Ministry of Energy
-The Ministry of Energy oversees many different sectors including electricity, natural gas, heat, oil, petroleum, energy efficiency, renewable energy, international cooperation, EU assistance, and the Ignalina nuclear power plant.
6. Ministry of Environment
“The goals of the Ministry of Environment and its subordinate institutions are as follows:
To implement the principle of sustainable development;
To set preconditions for rational utilization, protection and restoration of natural resources;
To ensure provision of information about the state of environment and its forecasts to the public;
To create conditions for the development of construction business and the provision of residents with housing;
To ensure a proper environmental quality, taking into account the norms and standards of the European Union.”
http://en.tm.lt/
7. Ministry of Finance
-The Ministry of Finance focuses on budgets, taxation, state debt management, accounting, financial services, internal audits, and the Public and Private Partnership (PPP)
8. Ministry of Foreign Affairs
-The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for many of Lithuania’s international policies, particularly those regarding security, regional cooperation, human rights, development cooperation, and democracy promotion.
9. Ministry of Health
-The Ministry of Health’s main responsibilities lie in public health, health in the EU, patient rights, and pharmacy; however, they also look into many other different sorts of health issues to see how they impact Lithuania overall.
10. Ministry of the Interior
“Activities of the Ministry are governed by
the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania laws other legal acts passed by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania international agreements of the Republic of Lithuania decrees of the President of Lithuania resolutions of the Lithuanian Government and decrees of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania Activities of the Ministry are based on the Lithuanian Republic Government Programme State Long-Term Development Strategy”
https://vrm.lrv.lt/en/about-the-ministry/activities-of-the-ministry
11. Ministry of Justice
“The Ministry of Justice is an executive authority with a mission to develop a legal system consistent with the rule of law and ensuring protection of human rights and freedoms.
Strategic objectives
Pursue efficient lawmaking able to ensure the quality of legislation;
Pursue optimum operation of national registers ensuring the accessibility of services and user-friendliness of registers;
Pursue efficient operation of legal authorities able to ensure that the legitimate interests of all social groups are served.”
http://en.tm.lt/
12. Ministry of National Defense
“Activity of MoND is developed with a view of the tasks defined by the Law on the Organisation of the National Defence System and Military Service:
1) to carry out strategic planning of the national defence system, develop the national defence system and the defence capability of the Army, prepare the Army and other institutions of the national defence system for defence of the state of Lithuania and collective defence of NATO Member Countries and for performance of other NATO tasks, for the implementation of the collective defence policy of the European Union and other international commitments;
2) to ensure performance of the functions of state defence as well as military and other functions of national defence in peacetime and in war;
3) to administer, in the fields of ensuring national security as specified by laws and in accordance with the procedure laid down by legal acts, the activities of intelligence and counterintelligence institutions of the national defence system;
4) to administer the international co-operation of institutions of the national defence system, ensure, within the sphere of its competence, the implementation of treaties and agreements, development and implementation of international co-operation plans and programmes;
5) to administer, in accordance with the procedure laid down by laws and other legal acts, the personnel of the national defence system, military service and mobilisation;
6) to administer provision of publicly available information about the national defence system, co-operation of the Army with civilian institutions, the Riflemen’s Union, and other associations and public establishments directly contributing to the consolidation of the national defence system, and to preparation of the public for defence;
7) to administer, in accordance with the procedure laid down by legal acts, military standardisation;
8) to perform the functions of the Minister of National Defence as established by this law and any other laws and resolutions of the Government.”
https://kam.lt/en/activities_1086/functions.html
13. Ministry of Social Security and Labor
-The Ministry of Social Security and Labor is concerned with protecting social integration, labor, employment, social insurance, families, children, gender equality, and the non-governmental sector.
14. Ministry of Transport and Communications
-“The principal operational goals of the Ministry are to shape public policy, as well as organise, coordinate and oversee its implementation in the following areas:
1. the functioning of the transportation system and the development of all-mode transport infrastructure;
2. carrying passengers and freight by rail, road, sea, inland waterways and air;
3. road safety for all types of vehicles;
4. combined transportation, transit and logistics;
5. electronic communications and post;
6. the development of information society and state-owned information resources;
7. the transportation of dangerous goods by road, rail and inland waterways as well as related areas.”
Topic History
In December 1983, the first Ignalina reactor became active; however, it was quickly noticed that there was a major flaw in the design. This ultimately caused a power surge and modified rector designs were tested at Ignalina in both 1987 and 1988. The second reactor went live on August 31, 1987. Construction of a third reactor began in 1985; however, after the massive nuclear power plant explosion at Chernobyl, the building efforts were halted in 1986.
At the peak of Ignalina’s production, the plant generated approximately 80% of the energy used by Lithuanian citizens. Additionally, 42% of the energy generated by Ignalina was exported to neighboring countries, ultimately allowing Lithuania to bolster its economic growth. The amount of exported energy began to gradually decrease in the 1990s as the Lithuaian population grew and became more dependent on Ignalina’s production.
Following the Chernobyl explosion, the nuclear power plant industry fell under increased scrutiny; therefore, in 1994, Lithuania agreed to accept approximately 35 million ECU (equivalent to 41 million USD) from the Nuclear Safety Account of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to initiate a safety improvement program at the Ignalina plant.
In 2003, Lithuania petitioned to join the European Union, at which time EU officials continuously voiced their concerns about the safety of the plants; therefore, upon entering the EU, Lithuania had to shut down the reactors. The decision to close the reactors was met with intense public opposition; however, the reactors were both closed by the end of 2009.
Current Situation
With the closing of the Ignalina plant, the public was distressed about the new Lithuanian reliance on other countries for energy. In particular, Lithuania began to heavily depend on Russia, a country which despite having a long history with Lithuania charges the Lithuanian government for for energy than is charged to other nations in the area.
Therefore, while the Ignalina plant was being disassembled, plans for a new neighboring facility, known as the Ignalina-2 plant were being drafted. The new facility would be considerably safer and aligned with three of the government’s main objectives: energy security, diversification of region’s energy mix, and environmental goals.
In February 2006, the three Baltic states agreed to collaborate on the project in Visaginas. They supposed that the new power plant’s increased capacity for energy processing would help Lithuania fill the gap in energy supply that was caused by Ignalina’s decommissioning. In December 2006, Poland was offered to join in on the project at the cost of 5 billion EUR. However, due to the inability of Poland and the Baltic states to agree on a number of key power plant components and energy distribution plans, Poland eventually backed out, ultimately causing a fatal blow to the entire project.
Despite large scale efforts, the Lithuanian government was unable to obtain the funding to properly construct the plant. In a 2016 interview, Arvydas Sekmosas, Lithuania’s former minister of energy, stated “The first conclusion is that the regional model does not work for projects of such scale and complexity, it is simply not suitable. The second conclusion is probably what we are going to do with the energy generation – we are short of it. Electricity is like bread, like water. We cannot do without it. The third thing is where we are going?”
Currently, Belarus (also a Baltic state) is following through with its plan to construct its own nuclear power plant, which would be located 55km from the Lithuanian border. The Lithuanian government has explicitly stated its opposition of this project and notified Belarus that no energy generated at the plant will be able to be sold to Lithuania or to travel through Lithuania’s power grid.The Lithuanian government believes that Belarus’ new nuclear power project is a threat to the environment, living standards, and public health. Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis stated that Belarus’ plant is “one of the biggest threats to our country” and that it fails to meet international standards set for nuclear power plants.
Questions to Consider
How should Lithuania proceed if Belarus continues to build its new nuclear power plant?
In what ways can Lithuania work to improve the environmental and health impacts of the Belarus power plant?
What is a solution to Lithuania’s heavy reliance on Russian power?
How can Lithuania ensure that its new energy plan will be maintained in the long term?
Suggestions for Further Research
http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-g-n/lithuania.aspx
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krC9Gh4wXMk
http://www.world-nuclear.org/reactor/default.aspx/IGNALINA-2
