Austria’s Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg was in Ljubljana today for talks with his Slovenian counterpart Anže Logar and Slovenia’s State Secretary for Infrastructure Blaž Kosorok. Schallenberg was accompanied on his visit by Governor of Styria Hermann Schützenhöfer.
In addition to stressing the close relationship and strong ties between their two countries, the two Foreign Ministers also discussed Slovenia’s current Presidency of the EU, the unfolding crisis in Afghanistan, and the future of Slovenia’s Krško nuclear power plant.
During his visit, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg made clear:
Austria sees nuclear power as a ticking time-bomb; it is not a weapon in the battle against climate change. We enjoy excellent neighbourly relations and a strong friendship with Slovenia, and I believe that friendship is more than strong enough to withstand frank exchanges of views on difficult issues like these,
Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said.
Before visiting Ljubljana’s Nuclear Emergency Preparedness Centre, Schallenberg met Blaž Košorok, the Slovenian State Secretary responsible for the plant, and raised the concerns of ordinary Austrians regarding plans to expand the plant and extend its service life. Krško is only around 120 kilometres from Graz – roughly the distance between Linz and Vienna, or between London and Dover.
We didn’t come to Slovenia expecting our colleagues to decommission Krško, or to stop expanding it. However, we did receive assurances from our Slovenian colleagues that Austria would be able to participate in the environmental sustainability assessment for prolonging the life of the existing plant, and that the assessment would be fair and transparent,
Foreign Minister Schallenberg said.
He stressed that Austria would not interfere in any other country’s plans for its energy mix, but that it would insist on the most stringent safety standards where Austria was directly affected by such plans. He noted the opportunity to take part in the environmental sustainability assessment would be a good first step towards ensuring Austrian concerns were taken fully into account.
