Energy ministers from 11 European Union countries, led by Austria, formed an alliance on Tuesday in a bid to roll back attempts by France and its allies to include nuclear power in the EU’s nuclear power targets, according to the Reuters news agency.
match against match
Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain participated in the meeting on Tuesday in order to develop a strategy for the upcoming negotiations.
On the other hand, France, the Czech Republic, Poland, as well as Hungary and Romania want nuclear energy to be taken more into account in European climate policies.
To that end, French Energy Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher took the lead in calling a rival meeting of pro-nuclear countries that also took place on Tuesday morning.
The deadlock comes a day before EU countries agree to tougher targets for renewable energy development by 2030, a key part of the bloc’s plans to cut CO2 emissions and ditch Russian gas.
France is in campaign
France is leading a campaign to recognize the contribution of “low carbon hydrogen”, that is, hydrogen produced from nuclear power. Pro-nuclear countries have made similar demands for a law to regulate the gas market, which ministers will discuss on Tuesday.
Austrian Energy Minister Leonore Gewessler said all 11 countries had rejected the attempt to link the two files.
“This should help achieve Europe’s strategic goals of becoming less dependent on energy imports and massively developing local and renewable energy,” the minister said.
Source: BFM TV
