SLOVENE GOVT EXPROPRIATES CROATIA FROM KRSKO NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

PLANT ( Editorial: --> 1666 ) ZAGREB, Aug 4 (Hina) - The decision of the Slovene Government adopted on July 30 concerning the transformation of the Krsko nuclear power plant (NEK) into a public company Nuclear Power Plant Krsko Ltd. is an example of unilateral decision-making and complete expropriation of the Croatian Power Supply (HEP), head of the HEP managing board Damir Begovic told Hina Tuesday. This regulation has stripped Croatia of its contractual rights as a co-owner and left Slovenia as the sole owner of the NEK, Begovic said. According to the regulation, decisions in the NEK managing board will be adopted by outvoting instead of by consensus, as envisaged by the basic contracts. In case of a 50:50 vote, the final decision will be made by the managing board director who is appointed by the Slovene Government. The price of electric power will be set by the Slovene Government, which will also decide about the recapitalisation of the NEK, Begovic said. The Slovene Government regulation also decreases HEP's share in unilaterally imposed "long-term obligations". The decision is opposed to all basic agreements between Croatia and Slovenia as well as to all contracts signed between the two electricity distributors concerning the NEK. The regulation shows that Slovenia has no intention of reaching an agreement with Croatia but wants to take over the NEK, Begovic said. Begovic said he had sent a letter to Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic and the President's office requesting that HEP's expropriation form the Krsko power plant be prevented. The Slovene Government regulation was handed to Croatian Assistant Economy Minister for Energetics Roman Nota by Slovene Economy Minister Metod Dragonja on 31 July. There still has been no official reply from the Economy Ministry. Speaking about the possibility of international arbitration in resolving the dispute, Begovic said the HEP would have to resort to that measure should there be no solution for the ownership problem. Although Slovenia's electricity distributor last night restored electric power supply from Krsko to Croatia, Croatia is still not using electric power and has no intention of taking it over as long as the Slovene Government regulation is in power, Begovic said adding the Slovenes had to reconnect one transmission line to Croatia due to security reasons. The HEP yesterday paid around US $17.5 million of liabilities for the maintenance of the plant but does not intend to pay the debts the Slovene side has been speaking of, Begovic said. "We will continue to pay the costs of maintenance and that is all we are going to pay until we start using electric power," Begovic added. (hina) rml 041410 MET aug 98