“Dvor and the County will receive compensation for nuclear waste disposal"

The Government has accepted a decision by which the Municipality of Dvor and Sisak-Moslavina County will receive 1.6 million euros in compensation for the disposal of spent nuclear waste on Trgovska Gora this year, and this amount will increase in the following years when the center is built and operational. Minister Šušnjar also responded to accusations from Bosnia and Herzegovina that Croatia made the decision on Trgovska Gora unilaterally, without consulting Bosnia and Herzegovina.

After Parliament adopted the law on the Center for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel, Low and Intermediate Level Radioactive Fuel on Monday, the Government today adopted a Regulation on the amount of compensation and the method of financing the local and regional self-government unit in whose territory the Center for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste is being established or located.

The Law on the Construction of the Center for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste ensures the spatial planning determination of the location of the Center and the conditions for the implementation of the intervention in space, and the preferred location is Čerkezovac on Trgovska Gora.

A new building is planned to be built there for the storage of radioactive waste from Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) Krško, along with the reconstruction of existing storage facilities for storing radioactive waste generated on Croatian territory.

In accordance with the agreement with Slovenia, Croatia is to dispose of half of the low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste generated at the Krško NPP.

Compensation will be received by the municipality of Dvor and Sisak-Moslavina County, in whose territory the storage facility is planned.

“The compensation this year will amount to 1.6 million euros and will be divided 70 percent for the benefit of the local unit and 30 percent for the regional self-government,” said Economy Minister Ante Šušnjar after the Government session.

“These funds will be used for the economic development of these areas, investment in infrastructure and the needs of the population of the county and municipality,” said Šušnjar.

“The compensation will grow as the Center is built, to much larger amounts,” he added.

Trgovska gora is a sovereign decision of Croatia

Journalists asked Šušnjar how he comments on the statements of the coordinator of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian legal and expert team in charge of Trgovska Gora and the Minister of Spatial Planning of the Republic of Srpska that no institution in Bosnia and Herzegovina agrees with the construction of the center and that everything is based solely on a political decision, without consultation with experts.

He replied that everything was done in accordance with international standards. He believes that such statements are used for purely political purposes.

“It is a sovereign issue of the Republic of Croatia, but we, as a good neighbor and partner, shared all the information in a timely manner, and I hereby invite all those who are concerned about any aspects of security related to that facility to come to the Ministry of Economy. We will show all the studies and, if necessary, make a study trip to see what such facilities look like. That is very certain and I think there is no fear except for some kind of petty politics that does not contribute to any constructive resolution of any problems,” he declared.

He stressed his willingness to cooperate, but also reiterated that the issue of determining the location of the storage facility on its territory is the sovereign right of the Republic of Croatia.

When asked if there was already a roadmap for how the construction would proceed and how much it might cost, he said that the law was passed in Parliament on Monday, and the Disposal Fund has plans for construction on the site of former military facilities.

“Today, we have this waste that is located here near Zagreb in some barrels in the Krško Nuclear Power Plant. We will process it, put it in special containers in which it is planned to be located for the next hundred years, and we will store it there,” he said.

Šušnjar: Increased spending during the holidays suggests a good state of the economy

Minister of Economy Ante Šušnjar also stated that he expects higher spending during the holiday period, as usual, and assessed that this shows that the economy is doing well and citizens' incomes are growing.

“We always have increased spending during the holiday period. We know what that entails, but it is also an indicator that in terms of income and economic activity, we have made significant strides, that we are in a very good position. With that comes some other things, and we will talk about that after the State Bureau of Statistics comes out with the reports,” said Šušnjar, answering questions from journalists after the Government session.

When asked how, in his opinion, citizens manage to cover the holiday basket, given the level of salaries and pensions, he replied that he thinks they will. He hopes that this will be the case this year as well.

He stated that the Government has adopted a series of measures to make everyday life easier for citizens, but that the holidays and the basket of products needed for the traditional Christmas lunch have also been taken into account.

“As for energy, there is a compensation for vulnerable customers, so that the state balances and takes care of all groups,” he said.

He also hopes that the population register will be completed in June, so that more targeted and better aid measures can be adopted.

When asked how much inflation, i.e. the rise in the prices of food and basic necessities, affects consumption and the holiday basket, he replied that it certainly does.

“But when you correlate how much pensions, average and minimum incomes have increased, you see that these increases are significantly higher than the inflation rate,” he said.

Asked whether the holiday basket is cheaper, for example in Slovenia, Hungary or Italy, he replied that Hungary has much cheaper oil and more expensive fuel than Croatia.

As for Slovenia, he says that some products are cheaper, but not all. “It is important,” he said, “to have a balanced approach when analyzing, to take identical products, but those that are not on sale.”

“The market is dynamic, retailers decide when and how, in what way they will put what on sale, and it is not good to compare regular and sale prices, i.e. sale prices from Slovenia and regular prices from Croatia,” he said.

“That is somewhere around there,” he said, noting that Croatia has a slightly higher VAT rate, so that can make a difference.

Source: HRT