Political interests in nuclear energy trying to outmanoeuvre democracy in Slovenia - Greenpeace calls for a democratic, renewables-based energy system that benefits all

24 October, Ljubljana - After a scandalous attempt by Slovenian political parties to circumvent the national referendum process to push through a nuclear project, the Slovenian Parliament decided today to cancel the referendum scheduled for November 24 on the building of a planned new nuclear block, JEK2, at the nuclear reactor in Krško. Greenpeace finds political attempts that irresponsibly mislead the public about the nuclear energy projects unacceptable. The environmental organisation calls for a proper assessment of how to develop a resilient, renewable-based energy system which can guarantee affordable energy to all and ensure Slovenia’s future competitiveness. 

Slovenia is the only EU country without almost any wind power. However, instead of developing a resilient renewable energy scenario based on sun and wind energy that could address the challenges of the climate crisis, all the parliamentary parties, except for Levica, including the leading coalition party Svoboda and the main opposition party SDS, were trying to push through the JEK2 project by overstepping democratic “red lines.”

The decision on building a second nuclear power block at the existing nuclear reactor in Krško, in Slovenia, was going to be taken in a late November advisory, legally-non binding referendum. The referendum is now cancelled as a result of a scandal around an audio recording leaked on October 17 by Tarča, a popular Slovenian television programme. According to the recording from 11 April, key politicians from the main government and opposition parties tried to circumvent the legislation and outmanoeuvre the referendum process to speed up the JEK2 project. The leaked recordings were from an informal meeting of MPs from each parliamentary party, where legal experts of the National Assembly were presenting three scenarios to the MPs on how to speed up the project on the political level. The MPs chose a scenario that was not in line with referendum legislation, although they were fully aware, and warned so by the legal experts, that they were violating the law. 

Even before the scandal occurred, Greenpeace and other NGO partners had been arguing that the referendum was premature, because there was too little information about the project for the voters to make an informed decision. It was not known who is going to build, for what price, would the state get involved and what consequences it could bring for the taxpayers. The price estimates were between €9.6 billion and €15.4 billion, depending on the size of the reactor.  Also the referendum question "Do you support the implementation of the Krško 2 project, which will ensure a stable supply of electricity together with other low-carbon sources?", was labelled as suggestive and manipulative by Greenpeace Slovenia and several other NGOs in the country. Two applications have been filed with the Constitutional Court challenging the referendum. 

Greenpeace believes that decisions on new nuclear power plants should not be made without properly informing people about the project and without people’s consent who will have to bear the consequences of such an expensive and dangerous investment. Currently, the investor GEN Energija does not need political consent nor support from the Slovenian people to proceed further with the JEK2 project. According to the prime minister of Slovenia, Dr Robert Golob, a JEK2 law is in preparation which is expected to include “certain safeguards.” Greenpeace Slovenia and its partners demand that the law include a referendum as a prerequisite for the final decision on the JEK2 investment, expected around 2027-2028.  

Sara Kosirnik, climate and energy campaigner from Slovenia has commented: ‘’After the political actors were caught red-handed, they are now withdrawing their support for the referendum because they are afraid that people will tell them what they don't want to hear. This scandal around JEK2 is a swansong of the nuclear industry. It shows once again that corruption and political non-transparency are core to the nuclear industry. Instead of misleading the public and undemocratically pushing through an expensive nuclear energy project that would only be built decades from now, the government should provide a 100% renewables scenario that would offer people safe, affordable, community-based, and democratic energy, which could address the climate crisis properly and in a timely manner so we can avoid much more serious impacts of extreme weather events in the future,” Kosirnik concluded.  

For more info;

Sara Kosirnik, Greenpeace Slovenia Climate and Energy Campaigner, skosirni@greenpeace.org, +386 30 408 553.