If the largest group, that of the Popolari, said they were in favor, Green Europe will fight. And, through the mouth of his national co-spokesperson Eleonora Evi, he has already expressed “a profound sense of disappointment” also and above all for the position of Italy and Minister Cingolani
Brussels – The attempt to make it go unnoticed, publishing it a few hours before the New Year, did not help. As expected, the draft Brussels delegated act to include nuclear and gas among green energy sources opens the first fierce political confrontation of the year in Europe. And the EU Commission is now grappling with the German-led anti-atom front, ready to drag it to court. But also with possible internal repercussions among those in favor – even if not openly – of the proposal.
Like Italy, where the debate immediately flared up: on the one hand Matteo Salvini to call for a referendum on nuclear power and on the other the M5S to reiterate that the atom is “old” and “sponsoring it as the solution to all Italy’s problems is simply foolish”. Squeezed between the diametrically opposed demands of the Franco-German axis, with Paris determined not to give up nuclear power and Berlin committed to decommissioning its power plants, in the late afternoon of Friday, December 31, Brussels sent governments its classification of green investments which provides for a sustainability license for natural gas and atom energy, even if conditioned and timed.
A favorable decision for France, which generates about two thirds of its electricity through its reactors and which, in order to secure the ok to nuclear power, had entered into a pact with the Eastern countries, admitting that natural gas could be considered green, albeit in transition.
Something that, even if never explained, was also of interest to Italy. But on the nuclear front, the decision, also for the methods and timing, has infuriated the German-speaking capitals and environmental NGOs, according to which it is a real act of greenwashing and a potential scam for investors of green bonds. . After the immediate contrary opinion of the German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke, who branded the decision as “absolutely wrong”, the spokesman for the government of Olaf Scholz assured that the opposition to the atom in the coalition is “unanimous”, while there is agreement on gas. If Berlin does not intend to appeal for the moment, Vienna and Luxembourg are ready to sue in Brussels. And also for Greenpeace, including nuclear power and gas in the taxonomy “would be a serious blow to the European commitment to the climate and the environment” due to the radioactive waste of one and the greenhouse gas emissions of the other. The NGO also brings up the costs of the atom: with the referendum of 2011 which blocked the return of nuclear power to Italy, “an economic catastrophe” was avoided, he explains, citing that “according to the French Court of Auditors, the only Epr reactor still under construction in France will have a total cost of over 19 billion euros against the 3.3 expected “.
At Palazzo Berlaymont, while admitting that they know the limits of choice, they defend its pragmatic approach. Consultation with Member States will now continue until 12 January. Then the Commission will formally adopt the act, but it will still take four to six months for the final go-ahead. Which will have to pass under the lens, as well as the Member States themselves called to express themselves by a strengthened majority, also of the European Parliament. Instead, it will be able to approve – or reject – the text by a simple majority.
If the largest group, that of the Popolari, said they were in favor, Green Europe will fight. And, through the mouth of his national co-spokesman Eleonora Evi, he has already expressed “a profound sense of disappointment” also and above all for the position of Italy and Minister Cingolani, guilty of “an under-the-counter agreement with France”. The fact remains that the negotiations will still be guided by Paris, which assumed the rotating presidency of the EU Council on 1 January: the first clash of the year in the EU is only just beginning.
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