The European Commission should make a "clear commitment" to nuclear, the president of French energy giant EDF's small nuclear reactor project, Renaud Crassous, told EURACTIV France in an interview, describing the EU's Net-Zero Industry Act proposal as a failure.
The French Parliament recently published the final report from a special inquiry committee looking into “the reasons for France’s loss of energy sovereignty and independence”. EURACTIV spoke to its lead rapporteur, centrist MP Antoine Armand.
As the EU sets up its response to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), French industry minister Roland Lescure told EURACTIV that Europe is on the cusp of a “new green industrial revolution” – if only governments are ready to spend the necessary cash.
Nuclear energy must not be neglected in the push for renewables as it will continue to be an important part of the future energy mix, Mathieu Cambet, founder and director-general of solar company Reservoir Sun, told EURACTIV France in an interview.
EURACTIV France spoke to right-wing deputy Raphaël Schellenberger about his vision of "European energy solidarity", which he conditions on the sovereignty of states to decide their own energy mix rather than on a uniform EU policy he accuses Germany of having imposed.
Emil Boc, the former prime minister of Romania, spoke with EURACTIV about the influx of Ukrainian refugees, the EU's dependence on Russian gas and the EU's unity on the sidelines of a summit of the regions and cities in Marseille.
With proper safeguards in place, both gas and nuclear power can be included in the "transition" category of the EU's green finance taxonomy, says Pascal Canfin, a leading lawmaker in the European Parliament.
Sven Giegold, a Green MEP who is one of the key negotiators in the German government coalition talks, told EURACTIV that Germany will need "small volumes" of additional gas capacity in order to "stabilise" renewable power on the electricity grid. However, he is opposed to the inclusion of gas in the EU's green finance taxonomy.
In all likelihood, the European Commission will table a proposal in the coming months to include nuclear energy in the EU’s green finance taxonomy, said Thomas Pellerin-Carlin, a researcher at the Jacques Delors Institute. But it is probably waiting for the outcome of the German elections before making a move, he suggested.
The hard line defended by France over the inclusion of nuclear power in the green finance taxonomy is a dead end because there is no majority in favour of it at the EU level, warns lawmaker Pascal Canfin. Instead, the French MEP argues for including nuclear energy in the 'transition' category.
The new government in Vienna will aim for “an end to nuclear energy” in the EU, Thomas Waitz told EURACTIV Slovakia. The MEP-elect and Green Party negotiator also calls on the EU to acknowledge that Poland will need financial support in the transition away from coal.
Armenia and Azerbaijan’s frosty relations have started to thaw since Nikol Pashinyan led a peaceful revolution in the Caucasus republic last year. In an interview with EURACTIV, he talked about future ties with Baku, as well as with Brussels and Moscow.
Eastern EU countries have a positive opinion of nuclear energy while others like Belgium and Spain are shifting against, says Yves Desbazeille. The big question for the industry is whether Germany will turn even more anti-nuclear than it already is, he says. EURACTIV Slovakia reports.
While EU countries step up efforts to phase out coal, the European Commission is preparing a new initiative to support regions in transition, says Dominique Ristori.
More and more nuclear power plants run for a longer period than originally planned. It is therefore high time that those term extensions become a European issue, Claus Mayr of the German Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union told EURACTIV Germany in an interview.
The unfolding crisis in the coal sector is leaving Poland with a looming power generation gap which is forcing decision-makers to reconsider the country’s energy mix. But politicians have until now delayed hard decisions and a transparent debate about it, says Joanna Maćkowiak Pandera.
The political climate for nuclear energy is "not very positive" in Europe, admits William D. Magwood, and the industry is currently shifting towards Russia and Asia as a result. But the emergence of small modular reactors (SMR) built in factories might slow down the process, he argues.
The Commission’s Clean Energy proposal will lead to a price increase for households, Andrea Beatrix Kádár of the Hungarian Ministry of Development told EURACTIV Slovakia.
Hungary does not care about the requirements imposed by the European Commission on Paks II, energy analyst András Deák told EURACTIV Slovakia. András Deák is a senior research fellow at the Institute of World Economics of the Hungarian Academy of …
EXCLUSIVE / Unlike the five EU member states with Russian-built nuclear power plants, Ukraine is the only country implementing EU requirements for diversified portfolios of fuel supply, Michael Kirst, an official at Westinghouse, told EURACTIV.com.
EXCLUSIVE / On his first visit to Brussels, newly-elected Prime Minister of Lithuania Saulius Skvernelis shared his fears with Euractiv.com about the building of a nuclear plant in Belarus, 40 km from Vilnius and of the hybrid war waged by Russia against the former Soviet republic.
From nuclear plants in the UK and Hungary to coal-fired power stations in Germany, member states always manage to forge ahead with their energy projects, according to Georg Zachmann, who calls on EU leaders to sit down and seriously discuss the Energy Union’s governance.
If European Union leaders don’t believe markets can work, then there’s no point having a carbon price to encourage renewable energies. And the energy market will always be “orchestrated” by national governments keeping fossil fuels subsidised, says Hans Ten Berge.
The best thing to do to win back public opinion in Europe and globally is to build reactors on time and on budget, Jean-Paul Poncelet told EURACTIV.sk at the European Nuclear Energy Forum in Bratislava.
