European energy ministers displayed their strong differences on Tuesday on the recognition of nuclear power as a means of producing carbon-free hydrogen, Paris strengthening its offensive in favor of the civilian atom while Vienna brought together its detractors.
Even before the meeting of Ministers of the Twenty-Seven began in Brussels, French Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher brought together representatives of twelve other Member States with the aim of defending nuclear power and boosting industrial cooperation in the sector.
Inaugurated at the end of February in Stockholm, this “civil nuclear alliance” brought together ten countries on Tuesday (France, Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia), to which are added Belgium, Italy and -Bas as “observers”.
“The participants (…) fully recognized that nuclear”, a source of carbon-free energy, “is a strategic technology for achieving climate neutrality”, according to a joint press release.
“The challenge is not to oppose nuclear power to renewables” but “to consider all the levers that can make it possible to lower our emissions”, explained Ms. Pannier-Runacher. “As a decarbonation solution (…) and to have competitive electricity that supports our industrial fabric, nuclear power has an important role to play”.
At the same time, Austrian Energy Minister Leonore Gewessler gathered her counterparts from ten states (Belgium, Estonia, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Luxembourg, Latvia) on Tuesday morning to discuss the “deployment renewables”. The majority of these countries contest that the civil atom can be treated in the same way as “green” technologies.
– “Neutrality” –
France pleads to adopt a “technological neutrality” leaving the States free to choose the means of achieving the climatic objectives. “This is extremely important to help us exploit all options in our decarbonization efforts,” Czech Minister Jozef Sikela also said on Tuesday.
The plan unveiled in mid-March by the European Commission to boost green industries alarmed Paris, because it mentions nuclear power without granting it the regulatory and financial advantages granted to renewables.
On Tuesday evening, the ministers adopted their position on legislation to facilitate the adaptation of gas networks to the development of hydrogen and biomethane, with a view to starting negotiations with MEPs to finalize this text.
The objective is to support the abandonment of natural gas in favor of low-carbon alternatives. “We have to create the right market conditions,” observed Swedish Minister Ebba Busch, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.
On the other hand, no compromise was yet in sight concerning the ambitious law on renewable energies, which the negotiators of the Council (member states) and the European Parliament are supposed to finalize on Wednesday.
This text provides for “renewable” hydrogen objectives to be achieved in transport and industry: France and its allies demand equal treatment between renewable hydrogen and “low-carbon” hydrogen produced with electricity of nuclear origin .
“We must be very careful not to create a competitiveness gap between Europe and the United States” whose green subsidy plan (IRA) “deals with renewables and nuclear on the same level”, underlined Ms Pannier- Runach.
– “Difficult balance” –
A red line for at least seven countries (Germany, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain), which had called in mid-March to “not encourage” the production of hydrogen from nuclear power, believing that this risked “slow down investments in new renewable capacities”.
“Renewable means renewable,” Ms. Gewessler tweeted Tuesday following the meeting she was hosting. “Nuclear is not green, sorry!” exclaimed his Spanish counterpart Teresa Ribera.
“It takes between 12 and 18 years to build a new nuclear power plant (…) These colossal sums must be invested now in solar and wind power so that we have a chance in the climate fight”, added the Luxembourger Claude Turmes.
“Two minorities block each other” on this text, comments a diplomat. The ambassadors of the Twenty-Seven will try Wednesday morning to agree on a possible solution before the resumption of talks between Council and Parliament.
“It’s a difficult balance (…) but if we don’t respect the fact that different member states choose different energy mixes, we will most likely prolong our dependence on fossil sources,” Ms Busch commented.
