Just hours before France took over from the EU presidency on January 1, the country could already claim its first victory. On New Year’s Eve, the European Commission sent out a long-awaited proposal to include nuclear energy in its ‘green taxonomy’: a kind of investment guide for sustainable investments.
It means that money invested in new or existing nuclear power plants can probably count on a green label in the future. And it means that the European lobby in favor of that decision in recent times is bearing fruit — with Paris as the main frontrunner.
It is no surprise that France is in the pro-nuclear energy camp within Europe. Nuclear power has traditionally been a source of national pride, a symbol of French sovereignty. About 70 percent of the electricity produced there is still nuclear. In the past year, however, the country has increasingly advocated the role of nuclear energy in the European energy transition. And thus it now plays a central role in the comeback that nuclear energy is making in the European energy and climate discussion.
It looked completely different just over ten years ago. In response to the nuclear disaster in Japan’s Fukushima, the European Union tightened safety controls and regulations, Germany accelerated its withdrawal from nuclear energy and opposition to the construction or extended use of nuclear power plants grew in other EU countries as well – even in France. With the departure of the United Kingdom, the nuclear camp in the European Union lost further strength.
But in a relatively short time, the taboo on nuclear energy in Europe has melted away and the proponents are once again presenting themselves confidently. Now that France can exert influence on the European agenda as EU president for six months, that self-confidence will only increase. The priorities presented by the country in advance stated that it will promote the role of nuclear energy in ‘achieving our European emissions targets and increasing energy independence’.
EU president France will push for nuclear energy’s role in European emissions targets
This twisted wind is partly related to the turnaround made by French President Emmanuel Macron himself, says Thomas Pellerin-Carlin, an energy expert at the Jacques Delors Institute, a French think tank. Initially, Macron supported the intention of his predecessor François Hollande to reduce the share of nuclear energy – albeit a little more slowly than previously planned. “But in recent years, he has become an increasingly open supporter, culminating in the announcement last November to open six new reactors.”
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Pellerin-Carlin sees that turn as part of a broader move by Macron from center-left to center-right and an effort to win the right-wing electorate to his climate policy as well. “In France, the emotional argument that nuclear power keeps the country independent still resonates very strongly. As a politician you can hardly ignore that. But the fact that the country has now also become much more outspoken in an EU context is due to strong economic reasoning. France has the only serious nuclear industry in Europe. The more nuclear power plants, the better for France.”
Unexpected allies
This is reinforced by the close ties between the French government and electricity company EDF – more than 80 percent state-owned and invariably economically shaky. The company is struggling with an increasing debt of tens of millions and has to deal with significant cost overruns and delays in projects at home and abroad. “If the nuclear energy business model improves in Europe thanks to the taxonomy, that also influences the prospects for EDF,” says Pellerin-Carlin.
A helping hand is the in Brussels influential French European Commissioner Thierry Breton (Internal Market), who has neither climate nor energy in his portfolio, but has continuously advocated nuclear energy in recent times. Pellerin-Carlin: “It is not new that European Commissioners do not lose sight of national interests, but it is striking that Breton is so open as an ambassador.”
The national and international sides of the French attitude to nuclear energy are inseparable, says Olivier Petitjean of the French lobby watchdog Observatoire des multinationales. “The discussion about the taxonomy came at a critical time for France: fewer or more nuclear power plants? Macron has now clearly chosen a direction. A positive European decision on nuclear energy helps, because it also boosts the time-honored ambitions to be much more active abroad with EDF. And with that, our own French core program can be better financed.”
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Something of this has already become visible in the past period with EDF’s offer to build six new nuclear reactors in Poland. In the lobby for nuclear energy in taxonomy, France collaborated with a group of less obvious allies in Eastern Europe. During a visit to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Macron recently emphasized that while the two have major differences of opinion, they nevertheless agreed on a number of issues. Below it: “Nuclear energy must be at the center of our European decarbonisation and energy strategy.” Also after the recent visit of Polish President Andrzej Duda to Paris, the Élysée emphasized the agreement on ‘the importance of using nuclear energy’.
Tilted public opinion
The taxonomy discussion has thus fueled a new European core lobby, which can also become visible in decision-making on other, less financial-technical, dossiers. It is not surprising that this lobby is conducted by European member states and government leaders themselves, more than in other industries, says Paul Schreiber of the Brussels NGO Reclaim Finance, who mapped out the lobby in the run-up to the taxonomy proposal. “Due to high costs and great security risks, the nuclear industry everywhere is very closely tied to the state by nature.” This certainly also applies to France and EDF. “It’s a bit like a werewolf,” says Pellerin-Carlin: “You never know exactly when you have human or animal in front of you, France or EDF.”
The taxonomy decision will give the core lobby a further boost
Thomas Pellerin-Carlin energy expert
The core lobby also has a different character in other areas than that for other forms of energy such as gas, says Schreiber. Despite a limited number of companies and apparently less lobbying funding, he believes the influence is large. “The core debate is seen as something very technical, complicated, something for experts. But many of those experts come from or are still associated with the industry. That gives them a lot of power in the discussion.”
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Public opinion on nuclear energy also seems to be changing: a poll in France recently showed a sharp rise in support for the energy form compared to two years ago. Due to the current high gas prices, the importance of more energy sovereignty for more people is currently eye-catching, but above all the urgency of the climate crisis and the role of nuclear energy in the production of hydrogen now sound like important arguments. The core lobby is also responding to this, Schreiber sees, by sponsoring or outright directing citizen groups or NGOs that are pro-nuclear. “They use strategies traditionally used by the environmental movement, such as protest marches, social media campaigns and crowdfunding. They are hip, young people who are for technological development. But if you dive into the financing, in most cases they are just financed by the nuclear industry.”
Does the taxonomy decision mean that nuclear energy will become a more central part of the European climate strategy? Pellerin-Carlin thinks the direct effects are minor. “The role of private investment in nuclear energy is extremely small: the returns are low and the risks are high.” That does not alter the fact that it does not offer France opportunities. “Proponents can now say even more easily: this is a sustainable, safe form of energy. That will give the lobby a further boost.”
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of January 12, 2022
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