Lithuania to scrap energy ministry – Peasants leader

“When it (the Energy Ministry) was established, its main function and task was the construction of the Visaginas nuclear power plant. As this project will not be carried out, which is absolutely obvious to everyone, we see no need for having it (the Energy Ministry),” he told BNS

Outgoing Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius told BNS via his spokesman that he would support a proposal to close the Energy Ministry down and set up a department at the Energy Ministry to carry out its functions.

The LPGU said in its election program that “there is no safe nuclear energy and, therefore, we are against the construction of nuclear power plants in our region”. Karbauskis and his party actively campaigned for a ‘no’ vote in a referendum on the Visaginas project in 2012.

The Energy Ministry owns Epso-G, a holding company with majority stakes in the country’s electricity and natural gas transmission system operators, which are responsible for strategic energy projects, and energy and natural gas exchange operators, and controls Klaipėdos Nafta (Klaipėda Oil), the operator of the Klaipėda oil and liquefied natural gas terminals.

The ministry also controls the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, the Energy Agency, the Lithuanian Oil Product Agency, the Radioactive Waste Management Agency and the State Energy Inspectorate.