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Europe Daily Bulletin No. 8169
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GENERAL NEWS / (eu) eu/energy

Loyola de Palacio believes agreement on energy markets is possible at Barcelona and Europe needs nuclear power

Brussels, 12/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - In an interview published in the Spanish daily, La Razon, on Sunday, Commission Vice President, Loyola de Palacio, speaking on the subject of energy market liberalisation, said that, "there are formulas for enabling an agreement to be reached" (at Barcelona). This agreement, she said, would be satisfactory to France and, "guarantee the aspects of a public service". On the subject of nuclear power, Ms de Palacio affirmed that, "Against the background of electoral campaigns, Europe needed a rational, objective and transparent debate because nuclear energy is a factor for stabilising prices and guaranteeing supply." She added that, "A new problem exists: the speeding-up of global warming. Nuclear energy would allow us to cut down on 300 tons of CO2 every year in Europe. If we abandon nuclear energy, we have to say how we will produce this electricity and tons of CO2 will be produced with conventional forms of energy. It's a very serious problem." Loyola de Palacio concluded that considering renewable forms of energy were not able to replace nuclear energy, "without nuclear power, Europe will be unable to meet the Kyoto objectives".

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