LJUBLJANA, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Members of the majority of Slovenian parliamentary parties on Tuesday filed a proposal for a referendum on whether the country should build its second nuclear power plant, in order to ensure a stable energy source in the future.
According to the proposal, the referendum would be held in the second half of November.
The parties that filed the motion together hold 82 out of 90 seats in parliament, and include the Freedom Movement and the Social Democrats, both members of the incumbent center-left government coalition. They also include the opposition center-right parties the Slovenian Democratic Party and New Slovenia.
"This is a project of the whole country and several generations," said Natasa Avsic Bogovic, a parliamentary member of Prime Minister Robert Golob's Freedom Movement.
Slovenia's sole nuclear power plant NEK, which is equally owned by Slovenia and its neighbor Croatia, was built in cooperation with U.S. firm Westinghouse and started operating in 1983. It is scheduled to close in 2043. The plant covers about a fifth of Slovenia's electricity needs.
The new parliamentary motion is in line with an increased global demand for nuclear energy amid a global energy crisis.
Later on Tuesday, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomed the motion, and said that building a second nuclear power plant is a precondition for retaining the competitiveness of the Slovenian economy. ■