Spain, Austria, Denmark and Luxembourg join forces against ‘green’ nuclear energy

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Spain associated it with Austria, Denmark and Luxembourg against the proposal of the European Commission in favor of the consideration of the nuclear power and gas as ‘green’. The heads of energy of these countries, including the third vice-president and minister of ecological transition, Theresa Rivera, sent a letter in this regard to the European Vice Presidents Frans Timmermans and Valdis Dombrovskis, as well as to the Energy Commissioners, Kadri Simson; Financial Services, Mairead Guinness; and Environment, Virginia Sinkivicius.

The signatories, who will defend this position which is supposed to oppose the incorporation of these energies within the so-called European green taxonomy in the informal council of ministers held in the French city this Friday Amiens, warns that the proposal is “a step back” and a “wrong signal to the financial markets.”

In addition to the third Vice President and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, the letter is signed by her peers in Austria, Denmark and Luxembourg, Leonore Gewessler, Dan Jorgensen and Claude Turmes, respectively. With the letter in which the ministers of the four countries express their common position before the meeting, they in turn express their “deep concern” about the Brussels proposal, as it jeopardizes the energy transition of both the European Union and ” set”. as well as the rest of the world. This idea of ​​community management has sparked an intense debate.

“The concept sends the wrong signal to the financial markets and carries the serious risk of being rejected by investors,” warned the holders of the Energy and Environment portfolios. “We emphasize that natural gas and nuclear energy do not meet the legal and scientific requirements set out in the Taxonomy Regulation to qualify as sustainable economic activities,” they added.

As far as nuclear power is concerned, the ministers argued that this energy has “extremely high costs”, as well as that radioactive waste is contrary to the principle of not causing significant damage that occurs in the taxonomy. In this sense, they warned about the lack of solutions to manage waste efficiently and recalled the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters. They also say that the proposal is in conflict with “one of the pillars of taxonomy, which is science”. “Neither gas nor nuclear power meets the scientific and legal criteria to be considered sustainable,” said the signatories of the letter.

The European Commission caused a stir at the beginning of the month by proposing that nuclear energy be considered green energy, albeit for a certain period, until 2045. In addition, it also defended that gas, which is used as a cushion when renewable energy fails, is considered green energy until 2030, as both this and nuclear energy will help achieve the goal of climate neutrality in the European Union by 2050. Germany does not like the part that touches gas, as they have started a nuclear power outage, which requires energy that illuminates faster.

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The informal meeting actually started this Thursday and 46 ministers of energy and the environment of the countries of the European Union, as well as community officials, will take part in discussing the ecological transition, taxonomy or the cost of gas and electricity.

“We are going to work to implement the Green Deal, the great ecological reform of the EU that in ten years’ time provides that Europe will be ready to meet the challenges of the climate transition,” the French transitional minister said before the debate began. declare. Ecologist and hostess of the appointment in Amiens (north), Barbara Pompili.



Reference-www.elperiodico.com

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