The French President, Emmanuel Macroncriticized this Wednesday those who want to corner nuclear energy in the European Union (EU), depriving it of the incentives of renewables, and warned that without it the climate objectives will not be met.
“What we want in Europe it is pragmatism and technological neutrality”, Macron stressed at a press conference in Bratislava together with the Slovak president, Zuzana Caputova, in response to a question about France’s blockade of the draft European directive on renewable energy.
On the one hand, he pointed out that the EU has set “a very ambitious goal” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 and carbon neutrality by 2050.
But then he pointed out that “no serious expert says that this objective can be achieved without nuclear energy, none”, neither Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
That is why he justified his demands that the “technological neutrality so that there is no bias” and to achieve “the most integrated market possible”.
He complained that what he is producing is a fragmentation. He specifically referred to the issue of green hydrogen (generated with renewable energy) and low-carbon hydrogen (which includes that generated with nuclear energy ”and said that “It is an aberration for Europe”.
In his opinion, the EU must have a very ambitious agenda and develop low energy in carbonand “for that, nuclear energy is needed.”
In France, around 70% of the electricity is generated with the 46 nuclear reactors that Macron wants to prepare to extend their useful life beyond the 40 years initially planned, up to 50 or 60.
In addition, in its clear commitment to nuclear energy, it has commissioned the construction of at least six more that should enter service between 2037 and 2050.
France has formed an alliance of pro-nuclear countries within the EU, which at the last meeting held in Paris on May 16 brought together 16 of the 27 members.
Paris also leads the blockade of the adoption of the directive on nuclear energy, in particular because it does not agree with the conditions that are set for the use of hydrogen generated with nuclear energy, different from those of green hydrogen.
In this, it confronts the group of States that defend a particular and privileged treatment for green hydrogen with the argument that “only renewable is renewable”, and in which Germany, Spain, Austria or Luxembourg are in particular.