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Brussels (AFP) – The European Commission extended from January 12 to 21 the deadline to consult the states of the European Union (EU) on its proposal to classify investments in nuclear and gas plants as “sustainable”, according to a spokesperson for the institution.
A first version of the formal document on the subject, which was debated for months and is still provisional, was distributed by the Commission to the bloc countries on the night of December 31, shortly before midnight.
The European Commission announced on January 1 that it had opened a consultation phase with the bloc states and experts on its draft text, for a discussion that was originally due to end on January 12, although the Commission extended the deadline to 21.
The final version of the document should be published by the end of January.
The Commission’s chief spokesman, Eric Mamer, justified the extension of the consultations on Monday.
“We are just at the beginning of the year, there was Christmas holidays. So it is normal that we give it a little more time,” he said.
Simultaneously, the spokesman for the German Ministry of the Environment, Stephan Haufe, announced on Twitter that “the deadline for receiving comments on the nuclear and gas taxonomy project has been extended from January 12 to 21”.
The document establishes the criteria to classify as “sustainable” investments in nuclear or gas plants for the production of electricity, with the aim of directing private contributions towards activities that contribute to the reduction of greenhouse effect emissions.
This inclusion of nuclear energy in activities that can benefit from green financing, granted on a temporary basis, has elicited opposition from a handful of countries, such as Germany and Spain, and the outcry from environmental organizations.
The project, however, is defended by France and Central European countries, who argue that renewable energies (such as wind, solar) suffer from intermittent production and will not allow, by themselves, to satisfy electricity needs.
After the publication of the final text, for a period of four months, the European Parliament will have the possibility to reject it by a simple majority of votes.
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