Paris refused to support EU green energy project banning nuclear power plants
In Brussels these days, the issue of transferring the EU energy to the so-called "green rails" is being actively discussed. Lobby groups are trying to advance the idea that EU countries should abandon nuclear power. In addition, the draft new “green” charter proposes to significantly reduce energy consumption, which are not among the renewable sources of energy (for example, natural gas).
The greatest resistance to this kind of initiative comes, as it turns out, from France. Paris strongly opposed nuclear power in the EU being completely banned. And this position of the French is understandable. Today, about 70% of all electricity generated in France is nuclear power generation. France has several nuclear power plants with more than 55 operating reactors. France is actively developing a new generation of reactors, investing hundreds of millions of euros in this industry. Abandoning nuclear power plants - for France, simply means burying their energy.
In Paris, they noted that they would not sign a document on “green energy” unless a clause on a ban on the operation of nuclear power plants was deleted from it. And in Brussels, such statements by the French authorities were heeded.
This position of Brussels has received harsh criticism from Germany. Large German edition The World called the position of Brussels hypocritical.
Germany notes that the EU actively supported Germany at the time when in Berlin in the 2011 year (against the backdrop of the accident at the Japanese Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant) they declared their readiness in the 2020's to completely abandon the operation of nuclear reactors. And now they say that the complete rejection of nuclear energy "needs to be discussed."
Berlin’s criticism of Brussels is also related to the fact that the new “green program” of the EU provides for actual restrictions on the purchase of natural gas - primarily from Russia. Thus, for Germany, the situation, if suddenly the Germans decide to support the EU’s “green program”, seems to be a dead end: firstly, they will have to abandon gas purchases from Russia, and secondly, they will also have to shut down the nuclear power plant. In this case, how to develop energy, Germany is asking the European bureaucrats a question.
So far, Paris has succeeded in defending its point of view. If Germany also joins it, the new “eco-project” will be doomed. Although today his prospects raise questions. The fact is that the project involves a huge amount of investment: 180 billion euros annually. And if the project is adopted, then the main burden of these costs will fall on the shoulders of the French and German taxpayers.
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