At the EU Council meeting held on 28 March, EU energy ministers were divided into two camps: the nuclear energy supporters' alliance, which includes France and 10 other member states, and the “renewable-friendly” group, consisting of 10 EU countries.
At the EU summit in February, France formed an “alliance” supporting nuclear energy with Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Hungary.
Ahead of the EU energy ministers' meeting scheduled for 28 March, French Minister for Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher (Agnès Pannier-Runacher) reconvened this group in Brussels.
These countries have now “fully recognised nuclear energy as a strategic technology for achieving climate neutrality,” according to a joint press release – a reference to the European Commission's Net-Zero Industry Act, in which nuclear energy is not mentioned among the “strategic” technologies for achieving EU climate goals.
New allies
The meeting organised by France was attended by two new “observers”: Italian Minister of Environment and Energy Security Gilberto Pichetto Fratin (Gilberto Pichetto Fratin) and his Belgian counterpart Tinne Van der Straeten (Tinne Van der Straeten).
The presence of the Belgian minister, a “green” politician and opponent of nuclear energy, can be explained by the outcry that erupted following the closure of two of the country's seven nuclear reactors during last year's energy crisis. Since then, the Belgian government has backtracked on its previous decision and announced plans to extend the lifespan by 10 years for a series of reactors that were due to be shut down in 2025.
Belgium and Italy might also be interested in the development of new technologies, such as small modular reactors (SMRs), for which there is a degree of consensus at the EU level, unlike larger nuclear power plants. In Italy, seismic constraints would rule out the construction of large reactors anyway.
The Netherlands, which participated in the inaugural meeting in February, arrived as an observer to the nuclear energy meeting this time. The Dutch want to build two new reactors, and the alliance could improve the quality of the preparatory studies carried out for this purpose.
France also hopes that the Netherlands will boost its lobbying efforts for nuclear energy, as it seeks to rely on partners traditionally close to nuclear-sceptic Germany.