03/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Greens/EFA group at the European Parliament has welcomes the European Commission's decision to bring the United Kingdom before the Court of Justice with regard to the safety conditions at the Sellafield nuclear power station (see p.9), but have declared that they are sceptical about the time chosen to take the decision, and about the Commission's "sincerity". Annual inspections have been carried out on-site for the past five years, but "nobody knows for certain whether any plutonium or uranium is being diverted for military use", said British Green Caroline Lucas in a press release. She states that the fact the Commission is acting now rather than ten years ago proves that it sees health, security and the environment as a low priority. She added that it is likely that the Commission is using the case to "politically undermine British resistance to its own nuclear package" (of November 2002), which is "already very weak". The Sellafield power station in the United Kingdom and the one at La Hague in France are responsible for the majority of "radioactive discharge in Europe, and must be closed", she stressed.