EU Elite More Pro-Nuclear Than Ever

Leading voices in Europe dared to think, and to state, the unthinkable on the very anniversary of the worst nuclear disaster in Europe’s history.

EUobserver.com reported, “The EU political elite is more pro-nuclear than ever before according to nuclear industry lobbyists, with leading meps urging people not to use the 20th anniversary of Chernobyl to bash EU nuclear expansion plans. ‘I had a meeting at a very high level in the European Parliament and European Commission last night [April 25] and the clear message was the present commission is as friendly to nuclear power as never before,’ Foratom [European Atomic Forum] chief Peter Haug told EUobserver on Wednesday …” (April 26).

Ironically, the same day just 20 years ago, an atomic reactor exploded at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine, scattering radioactive material as far west as Ireland. An area the size of Belgium remains contaminated today.

“The World Health Organization (who) says the disaster killed 4,000 people but ngo Greenpeace puts the figure at closer to 90,000 while accusing pro-nuclear elements in the UN of leaning on the who” (ibid.).

Far from leaning away from further development of nuclear capability, European Union nations are increasingly taking a stance in favor of the use of nuclear energy for power generation purposes. That such a move also sends a signal of enhanced capability for the proliferation of nuclear weapons is the largely unspoken part of this equation.

Britain, France, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech republic and Slovakia all plan to boost nuclear capacity. In addition, EU candidate nations Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey have expressed their commitment to ongoing development of their nuclear capability. The EU’s neighboring countries of Russia and Ukraine are also slated to enhance their use of nuclear power.

Peter Haug and Dutch energy experts also predict, based on certain noises being made by the main party in Germany’s coalition government, that Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union will scrap plans to phase out nuclear power made previously by a socialist-led government.

“There will be no early closures of nuclear plants in Germany,” Mr. Haug said (ibid.).

German conservative Hans-Gert Pottering had the gall to declare that the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe “should not be used as a political instrument against nuclear power as such” (ibid.).

Read between the lines: Clearly, what is still fresh in these politicians minds is the hiccup caused by Russia this past winter when Russian energy giant Gazprom temporarily reduced supplies to Europe during an argument with Ukraine over price hikes. Ever since, the argument for alternative sources of energy has been a hot potato in the EU. Add this together with the current scare in Europe concerning the consequences of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons, and you have the ideal moment presented to hawks within the EU who seek to add to the EU’s already globally dominant trade position an equally dominant military presence. Without this, the EU’s expressed desire to become a countervailing global presence to offset the imbalance presented by the singular superpower status of the U.S. will be so much pie in the sky.

Watch for the nuclear debate to heat up within the EU and to coalesce in agreement for the development of EU nuclear power status.