Grybauskaitė has attacked monopolies, arguing that they stand in the way of further development of Lithuania's economy. Photo by Nathan Greenhalgh.

VILNIUS — Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė said Thursday that the influence of the ruling elite of the country led to the inadequate closing measures for the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, leaving the country scrambling for cheap energy.

The plant, which was closed on Jan. 1 this year, was the country’s main source of electricity. The country knew of its obligations to shut down the plant since the country joined the EU in 2004 and made little headway replacing it.

There are two energy links to Central Europe and Scandinavia in the works, but neither are expected in the next few years. In the mean time, citizens of the country will have to foot the bill.

The EU has already spent 4.7 billion litai (€1.36 billion) on helping the country achieve energy independence after plant shutdown.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė said that the monopolized market fed the interest of the country’s elite, which ensured that little was done to fix the situation in the energy market. Grybauskaite did praise the current government’s set up of the common energy market with the other Baltic countries, saying it was “better late than never.”

“Lithuania prepared for the closure of Ignalina wrong, but the fact that this government is able to open the electricity market since January is very good, ” Grybauskaitė told the press Thursday.

The free energy market will allow the countries to sell electricity to each other without tariffs.

The plant was shut down because of the country’s accession agreement on joining the EU due to concerns that the reactor had inherent design flaws like Chernobyl that could lead to catastrophe.