Letter to Siemens
27. Mai 2021
To Mr Roland Busch
President and Chief Executive Officer of Siemens AG
Copy:
Dr Wolfgang Schäuble, President of the Bundestag
Dear Mr Busch,
We, the undersigned Members of the European Parliament, would like to express our concerns regarding the Siemens AG close cooperation with Belarus, providing support to the authoritarian state regime, which continuously perpetrates crimes against democracy and European citizens.
On 23th May, 2021 demonstrated threat of violence used against a civilian aircraft in the skies over Belarus is a reminder of the illegitimacy of the administration claiming authority in Minsk.
Considering the fact, that on 15 February 2021, the Eurasian Development Bank and Minskenergo signed a EUR 101.2 million long-term loan facility agreement to finance the supply of key power equipment under a contract with SIEMENS Energy AB as part of the project to construct a 300 MW peaking power plant and that to the financing of the project is secured by the KFW IPEX Bank and Landesbank Hessen Thuringen Girozentrale, it must be stressed, that the support of European companies to the unpredictable authoritarian regime, which under these conditions develops a nuclear power plant less than 20 km from the European Union border is utterly unacceptable and shall not be tolerated by the European community.
We would like to remind you that the Belarusian NPP was launched last year, despite the fact that Belarus failed to comply and remains non-compliant with the Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, in particular with regard to the selection of the Astravyets site, and also regarding the harsh breaches of the nuclear safety standards, international conventions and unimplemented EU stress tests.
As it was stated in the joint declaration by chairpersons of Foreign Affairs Committees in Czechia, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, issued on 24th May, 2021, tyranny has no place in Belarus or in Europe.
Therefore, we call on you to suspend the equipment deliveries to Belarus as part of the project to build backup and peaking power plants in Belarus and to terminate further cooperation with the authoritarian regime, endangering lives and safety of European citizens.
Sincerely,
Petras Auštrevičius, Renew Europe, Lithuania
Reinhard Bütikofer, Greens/EFA, Germany
Nathalie Loiseau, Renew Europe, France
Andrzej Witold Halicki, EPP, Poland
Ivars Ijabs, Renew Europe, Latvia
Sophie in‘ t Veld, Renew Europe, Netherlands
Robert Biedroń, S&D, Poland
Ivan Štefanec, EPP, Slovakia
Karin Karlsbro, Renew Europe, Sweden
Sergey Lagodinsky, Greens/EFA Germany
Ramona-Victoria Strugariu, Renew Europe, Romania
Karen Melchior, Renew Europe, Denmark
Rasmus Andresen, Greens/EFA, Germany
Rasa Juknevičienė, EPP, Lithuania
Attila Ara-Kovács, S&D, Hungary
Nicolae Ștefănuță, Renew Europe, Romania
Erik Marquardt, Greens/EFA, Germany
Alexander Yordanov, EPP, Bulgaria
Bernard Guetta, Renew Europe, France
Liudas Mažylis, EPP, Lithuania
Michal Šimečka, Renew Europe, Slovakia
Aušra Maldeikienė, EPP, Lithuania
Mounir Satouri, Greens/EFA, France
Ioan-Dragoş Tudorache, Renew Europe, Romania
Andrius Kubilius, EPP, Lithuania
Dace Melbārde, ECR, Latvia
Pascal Durand, Renew Europe, France
Miriam Lexmann, EPP, Slovakia
Barry Andrews, Renew Europe, Ireland
Andrey Kovatchev, EPP, Bulgaria
Salima Yenbou, Greens/EFA, France