The heads of state and government of the seven EU countries defended nuclear energy in Europe.
This is reported by Le Figaro.
The English-language letter, signed by French President Emmanuel Macron and the Prime Ministers of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia, was released on Thursday and is an “urgent call to ensure a level playing field for nuclear energy in the EU, without excluding it from climate and energy policies and benefits.”
The call comes in the midst of a debate in Brussels over a future European green “taxonomy” that should condition access to finance, and therefore investment, for many years to come.
Some countries advocate the inclusion of nuclear power for its climate benefits with very low CO2 emissions. Other countries, such as Germany and Austria, are against it.
The signatories of the letter ask for their part that the European energy and Climate policy support always to achieve climate neutrality in accordance with the principle of technological neutrality. They also emphasize the “important contribution (of nuclear energy) to the fight against climate change” and see it as a means of supporting the development of renewable sources and hydrogen, without forgetting about jobs.
Member States have very different visions of the role of nuclear power in the future. Germany decided to abandon it after the Fukushima disaster. On the other hand, countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic rely on it to limit the consumption of coal, which is very polluting and emits greenhouse gases.
