Brussels, 16/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - Along with many of their peers in the European Parliament, the extreme-left MEPs (GUE/NGL) have called, via their president, Lothar Bisky, for a debate with the Council and European Commission at the forthcoming plenary session on nuclear safety and security. “We are all affected by what happens in Japan (…). It wasn't merely a natural catastrophe, but a man-made catastrophe. The nuclear threat is not only posed by nuclear power plants, but also by nuclear weapons which are to be found across Europe”, said the German MEP in a press release issued on 16 March. On the same day, his French colleague Jean-Luc Mélenchon put a question to the Council and the Commission calling for a European nuclear shut-down plan. “The seriousness of the situation in Japan calls for total solidarity from Europe, but also for a reflection on nuclear. Investigating the safety of power stations in Europe is vitally needed, but we need to break the attitude of denial of some of our governments, which want everything to continue as before. Getting out of nuclear is imperative. This will take time. That is why it would be criminal to delay the decisions”, said Mélenchon. (E.H./transl.fl)