Leaving aside the central figures of the state visit, Presidential couple Toomas Hendrik and Evelin Ilves, and their Lithuanian counterpart Dalia Grybauskaitė, yesterday’s most notable figure was undeniably Juhan Parts, Estonia’s Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications, whose portfolio holds such spicy subjects as nuclear power and Rail Baltica.
In Lithuania’s government, the work, in Estonia’s case resting solely on Mr Parts and his ministry, has been divided between three ministers. Of these, Mr Parts met two – the energy minister Jaroslav Neverovič and minister of communications Rimantas Sinkevičius.
The third party – minister of economy Birutė Vėsaitė – escaped meeting her Estonian colleague. Ms Vėsaitė, having visited Kazakhstan by private chartered plane, yesterday made the news by promising to resign.
While Lithuania’s current government – the social democrats who forced the issue into a referendum, last year – is attempting to tie the final «yes» or «no» to opinions of Estonia and Latvia, Mr Parts yesterday issued a comment, stating: «For us, it is incomprehensible that a central investment of Lithuanian energy sector is being linked, somehow, to the behaviour of another state.»
Mr Parts noted that a nuclear station is no McDonald’s café. Rather, it is an investment requiring the host country’s clear support. And what is more – its leadership in pulling the entire project. «The allusions à la we will only do it if Estonia jumps on board reveal that the country itself is unwilling. From this, there is only one conclusion we may draw,» he stated.
According to Mr Parts, he and his Lithuanian colleagues have openly discussed what it would mean if the Southernmost Baltic State imported 60-70 per cent of its electricity – either from Russia or from Estonia, for instance.
«Thinking of our economy, imports are not only a matter of energy supplies security – the risk that, should others need it, you would be denied. It is also a matter of business and investment environment,» said Mr Parts.
According to him, energy security is also vitally important when foreign investors weigh entering certain countries. «If a state imports 70 per cent, you need not ask them [the questions]. You need to go across the border and ask: do you intend to sell them electricity?» said Mr Parts.
Mr Parts also disparaged the criticism by Estonian opposition towards the construction of the second power station in Narva. The minister said he was more and more convinced that this was a good investment, whereby indecisiveness was stopped, in our energy sector.
«Out honourable opponent Sven Mikser is saying, in all seriousness, that we ought to invest in solar energy,» he wondered. «I’m a nature lover myself. However, the advice to erect a turbine on top of every farmhouse… that would equal dismantling cow houses and telling everyone in Mustamäe [Tallinn’s high rise residential area] to get their own cows. This is returning to the centuries when serfs were liberated and every man got his little garden.»
«We need industrial energy producers!» stressed Mr Parts, underlining that lowering of energy prices and boosting industry are key to kicking European economy back to growth.