Košice City Council asks minister Malatinský to withdraw from the Memorandum (press release)
10/02/2014 22:21
Members of the Košice City Council have accepted a proposal of the "Uranium Košice Stop" activists and approved a resolution requesting the minister of economy to withdraw from the "Memorandum of understanding and collaboration in energetic sector between the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic and European Uranium Resources".
By the resolution the MPs have also asked the mayor to inform not only minister Malatinský but also the minister of environment and the government about their request.
In the discussion preceding the vote about the resolution, which was proposed for approval and justified by MP J. Süli (of the SDKÚ-DS party), mayor R. Raši expressed his opinion that all the members of the Council should be ready to approve any resolution proposed against uranium mining.
The Memorandum in question had been signed by minister Malatinský in December 2012. The anger of the public following from this step was caused not only by the declared promise of state support for uranium mining in the territory of Košice but also by the fact that the document had been signed secretly out of sight of the general public. Even though the Memorandum has no legal force, the mining company has already successfully abused it against the Ministry of Environment for threatening by a 20-million arbitration court complaint in case their licence for continuation with uranium exploration gets cancelled.
L. Rovinský, chairman of the Slovak Society for Protection of Nature and Countryside - branch Košice (ZO SZOPK Košice 2013), pointing out the absence of the legal force of the memorandum, expects that the minister will not hesitate to withdraw from it and thus get rid of a means for blackmailing the state.
In Košice on 10 February 2014
On behalf of the "Uranium Košice Stop" initiative
ZO SZOPK Košice 2013