The countries of the ‘Nuclear Alliance’ met once again in the margins of the Energy Council on Monday 17 March (see other news) to reiterate their priorities regarding the path that the European Commission should take in the wake of its action plan for affordable energy (see EUROPE 13588/3).
The meeting, chaired by Swedish Energy Minister Ebba Busch, was attended by 15 countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Sweden and Poland; Estonia and Italy in their role as observers) as well as the European Commission.
In a press release, the members of the Alliance state that it is urgent for the EU to adopt an energy policy that fully integrates technological neutrality “as a general guiding principle”.
The European Commission’s mission statement “cannot be interpreted as focusing exclusively on small modular reactors (‘SMRs’)”, says the Alliance. “The European Commission’s nuclear energy efforts must encompass all nuclear technologies, such as large-scale nuclear new builds, nuclear life extensions, as well as the entire nuclear value chain and fuel cycle”.
The “Friends of Renewables” countries also met in the margins of the Council to reaffirm their common priorities. The following countries were represented: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Germany, Denmark, Greece, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands and Portugal, as well as the European Commission. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)