Page 31 - BNE_magazine_11_2019

bne November 2019 Central Europe I 31
on October 4, showing Zsolt Borkai and his lawyer friend on a luxury yacht with prostitutes.
The blogger also made serious corrup- tion allegations naming lawyers, local government officials and Borkai himself accusing them of diverting HUF1bn (€3mn) annually from the city's coffers.
Some of the stories unveiled in the blog were already covered by the press years before, such as the acquisition of the land by an offshore company owned by Borkai's lawyer.
The offshore company reportedly made HUF5bn in profit from the deal after the plot was reclassified from agricultural land to an industrial area when it was sold to Audi.
Fidesz and its loyal media were silent for days. The official line later was that the sex tape was Borkai's private matter. But the story did not die down; on the contrary, new details emerged.
The twin sisters appearing on the sex tapes received EU funds to assist their small business and an independent MP revealed that the wife of Borkai had
a 4-hectare estate with tennis courts.
Although the allegations in the blog were not backed up by documents, the detailed description of the corruption schemes and people involved seemed credible.
Borkai apologised and acknowledged that he was on the tape in a short interview on October 7 but he denied any corruption charges. He withdrew himself completely from the campaign.
On October 9, the local chapter of Job- bik, which backed the left-liberal mayor candidate in Gyor suddenly pulled out of the coalition, which sparked rumours that they were bought up by Fidesz to divide the united opposition.
The party headquarters condemned the move and launched an ethical probe against the rebels. The local Jobbik poli- ticians were later filmed drinking with officials from the local civil party, widely seen as the puppet of Fidesz.
Lithuania considers banning purchases of electricity from Belarus’ nuclear power plant
IntelliNews Pro
The Lithuanian president wants to prevent countries with “unsafe nuclear power plants” from exporting electricity to Lithuania, according to a number of legislative amendments sent to the parliament.
The move is clearly aimed at Belarus, which is moving towards launching
its nuclear power plant in Astravets, 50 kilometres east of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. Lithuania has long complained about the Astravets plant being developed with little transparency and in breach of the Espoo Convention that regulates the transboundary impact of major projects.
“The import of electricity produced in a manner dangerous to Lithuania's environment and public health poses a threat to our national security. It is necessary to take additional measures already now, which would limit the possibilities of [importing] such electricity,” said Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda in a statement.
On top of the claims of the opacity of the project, Vilnius also claims that
the construction is taking place in a seismic zone. According to the World Health Organization, Astravets is indeed in a zone of heightened seismic risk although that is still classified as “low”.
The Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, declared the Astravets project
a threat to national security, the environment, and public health two years ago. Poland has also criticised the project.
Neighbouring Latvia and Estonia appear to not share Lithuania’s concerns about Astravets and have not passed any similar measures restricting future electricity flows from Belarus.
The Russia-designed Astravets plant will feature two VVER-1200 reactors with a total capacity of 2,400 MW. The first Astravets reactor is expected to go online by the end of 2019 and the second one in 2020. The plant is expected to cover around a third of Belarus’ electricity demand, mostly met by gas-fired power plants today.
President Gitanas Nauseda wants to prevent countries with “unsafe nuclear power plants” from exporting electricity to Lithuania.
www.bne.eu