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Last Updated: Jul 7th, 2008 - 08:39:23 |
EUobserver - European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has once again made the case for nuclear power, a controversial source of electricity generation in several EU member states, adding to the already heated debate in Germany on whether the country should allow a nuclear comeback.
In an interview with the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag (6 July), Mr Barroso acknowledged that "nuclear energy is a delicate issue in Germany".
"On the other hand," he said, "more and more countries see in nuclear energy an at least temporary solution to stop climate change and to reduce our dependency on oil and gas."
Germany's previous Green-Social-Democrat coalition government under the leadership of Gerhard Schroeder committed itself to a gradual phase-out of all 17 nuclear power plants in the country by 2021.
But the commitment is now being questioned by the Christian Democrats (CDU) of Chancellor Angela Merkel, the senior partners in the coalition government with the Social Democrats.
Technology minister Annette Schavan from the CDU said that Germany needs to "exit the exit resolution", referring to the phase-out. "We urgently need the life-span extension - as a contribution to global climate protection and for a lasting energy supply," she told Bild am Sonntag.
But the Social Democrats reject the idea of prolonging the life-span of existing power plants, pointing to remaining question marks over how to safely store the nuclear waste.
"It is irresponsible so long as the question of the disposal of highly radioactive waste is not solved," the party top figure, Peter Struck, was cited as saying by Der Tagesspiegel on Sunday (6 July).
The same message came from transportation minister Wolfgang Tiefensee, speaking to Welt am Sonntag. "We believe in renewable energy and not in nuclear energy," he said, pointing to plans to build some 30 offshore windfarms in the Baltic and North seas.
It is up to each EU state to choose its own energy mix. But the current European Commission, headed by Mr Barroso, has not shied away from supporting the nuclear path. Brussels says that nuclear energy has a role to play in meeting the EU's growing concerns about security of supply and CO2 emission reductions.
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