HN daily quotes E.ON spokesman Erwin Haydn as saying that E.ON will not participate in CEZ privatization unless the Temelin nuclear power plant is excluded from the privatized assets (this information first arrived Monday). The daily then quotes a Ministry of Industry spokeswoman as denying that excluding Temelin from the privatization is an option. These statements seem to rule out E.ON’s participation in the privatization (but it may be premature to make a strong conclusion at this stage, given the possibility of establishing a privatization consortium with someone interested in CEZ’s nuclear plants). Neutral.
In addition, local daily LN writes that last Sunday’s activation of Temelin was met with sharp criticism from Austria, including the FPO party, Upper Austrian governor J.Puhringer, and also Austrian chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, who intends to increase legal and political pressure. This reportedly includes blocking the completion of the energy-sector chapter of EU accession negotiations. LN also writes that German Environment minister Juergen Trittin expressed in a letter to the Upper Austrian parliament his opinion that Temelin should be halted unless it fulfills “high level of standards”. These reports confirm strong opposition to Temelin in Germany and Austria, but they also reflect high level of ambiguity in their official views on Temelin (e.g. on whether the country’s EU entry will be related to Temelin or not). Neutral at the moment.
(Jiří Soustružník)