Over one hundred civil society organisations from 29 countries across Europe have this week called upon the Convention on the Future of Europe to back moves to scrap a forty-five year old European Union agreement dedicated to promoting the nuclear industry.

In a Declaration presented to Convention members today (full text below), the groups describe the Euratom Treaty, signed in 1957, as out of date, undemocratic and biased towards nuclear power over other energy options. They call for the abandonment of Euratom - the only remaining sector-specific EU Treaty - as part of the process of drawing up a new European constitution.

Scrapping the Euratom agreement ends an unacceptable situation in which EU states are forced to support nuclear against their wishes. Most states either do not have or are phasing out atomic generation due to concerns about health, safety, economics, and the difficulties of radioactive waste.

An end to Euratom would not however impose a nuclear phase out on individual states. Instead, the Declaration seeks a new European constitution that reflects "the prevailing views of European citizens today" and under which all energy options have "equal treatment, based on the full internalisation of associated costs".

"Euratom is out of date, undemocratic and biased," said Mark Johnston, Friends of the Earth’s European Nuclear Campaigner. "It is a relic from the past and well overdue for repeal. An enlarged EU needs an energy strategy focused on the development of sustainable energy options, rather than special favours for the discredited nuclear sector. The Convention and Inter-Governmental Conference offer an unprecedented opportunity to finally get rid of Euratom. Not to do so would risk a new Constitution being blighted by a nuclear legacy no one wants.

ENDS

Contact: Mark Johnston (London) +44 79 7331 9249
Martin Rocholl (Brussels) +32 2542 0183

1. The full text of the Declaration to Abolish Euratom and the names of the organisations supporting it follow below. The European Convention is due officially to consider the Euratom question in the near future, and will present all its recommendations to European heads of state later this year.

2. Friends of the Earth Europe (FoEE) pledges to continue the Euratom abolition campaign, believing that a new Constitution promoting nuclear power will be far less likely to win the backing of European citizens. FoEE has also called for the European Commission to suspend its proposed new Euratom measures - including more financial support for the nuclear industry and arbitrary deadlines for national radioactive waste dumps - until the Euratom Treaty framework itself has been radically overhauled.

TEXT OF DECLARATION

EURATOM: IT IS TIME TO CHANGE
CIVIL SOCIETY DEMANDS ABOLITION OF THE 1957 TREATY THAT
CREATED THE EUROPEAN ATOMIC ENERGY COMMUNITY.

The debate about the future of Europe is underway. In 2004, European leaders will conclude a new political settlement for a much larger Union. Now is the correct time to modernise Europe’s founding treaties. The new constitution must reflect the prevailing values of European citizens today, and not the values that are left over from an earlier era.

There have been many changes in the world since the Treaties of Rome in 1957. Of the two agreements in that year, the Treaty on the European Economic Community has been revised many times to reflect changing circumstances, but the Treaty on the Atomic Energy Community - commonly referred to as Euratom - remains effectively unaltered.

The Euratom Treaty is never set to expire. This is in heavy contrast to the 1952 agreement on coal and steel which expired earlier in 2002, leaving Euratom as the only energy specific stand alone Treaty. Euratom’s main "task" is to promote the "speedy establishment and growth of nuclear industries" (Article 1). Despite long efforts to liberalise European energy markets, no other energy option now retains such special status. It is a situation that cannot continue.

Amongst the fifteen member states of the European Union today, seven states have never adopted nuclear power and a further four states have decided to stop using it. Just four of the member states currently want to keep the nuclear option. European public opinion does not support the special treatment of nuclear power.

The organisations listed below, representing a large cross-section of European civil society, call on our political representatives in the ‘Convention on the Future of Europe’ and in the other European institutions, to adopt the following objectives forthwith:

1. That the Euratom Treaty looses its special ‘top-level’ status; that the Treaty’s promotion of the nuclear industry, including for example by making loans, comes to an end; and that in future all energy options are given equal treatment based on the full internalisation of associated costs;

2. Therefore that the Convention proposes to the forthcoming Inter-Governmental Conference that the Euratom Treaty in its current form comes to an end and that nuclear safety issues are dealt with either through the general treaties or in the new constitution.

3. That any new, revised or consolidated European agreement relating to the nuclear energy sector should be solely about safeguarding the health and safety of the public, the protection of the environment and the physical security of nuclear materials;

4. That the new European constitutional settlement provides a guarantee that all decisions affecting energy matters are taken under the principles of democratic accountability and control, particularly co-decision making with the European Parliament, and where there is public scrutiny through open and transparent procedures and timely access to information;

5. That any new, revised or consolidated European agreement relating to the energy sector integrates the principle of sustainable development as an overarching goal and therefore gives special attention to energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.

6. That the European Commission stops all proposals that aim to give new and increased regulatory powers to Euratom until the above mentioned changes have taken place.

ORGANISATIONS SUPPORTING THE DECLARATION

INTERNATIONAL: A SEED Europe; CEE Bankwatch Network; ESTIF - European Solar Thermal Industry Federation; Greenpeace International; For Mother Earth International; Climate Action Network Europe; Friends of Nature International; International Society of Doctors for the Environment

ALBANIA: Albanian Ekological Club (IFN)

AUSTRIA: GLOBAL 2000 (FoE Austria); OOE Plattform gegen Atomgefahr/Upper Austrian Platform against Nuclear Danger; Wiener Plattform "Atomkraftfreie Zukunft"; Eco Counselling Europe, Vienna; AeGU (Ärztinnen und Ärzte für eine Gesunde Umwelt, Doctors for a healthy environment, ISDE Austria); Vorarlberger Plattform gegen Atomgefahren; Naturschutzbund Vorarlberg; Initiative Civilcourage e.V.; Salzburg Platform Against Nuclear Dangers (Plattform gegen Atomgefahren - PLAGE); OMEGA-Österreichische MedizinerInnen gegen Gewalt und Atomgefahren / IPPNW-Austria; ÖSTERREICHISCHER Naturschutzbund - Landesgruppe Salzburg

BELGIUM: Voor Moeder Aarde vzw (For Mother Earth Belgium); Bond Beter Leefmilieu vzw, (the Flemish Federation of the Environmental Mouvement); Uiteraard; Aktiekkomitee Red De Voorkepen ZW; AKTIEKOMITEE TER BEVEILIGING VAN HET LEEFMILIEU OP DE LINKEROEVER EN HET WAASLAND v.z.w.

BULGARIA: Association AGROLINK; Elm Tree Association; Centre for Environmental Information & Education; The Association for the Revival (Plovdiv); Ecosouthwest (Blagoevgrad); TIME Ecoprojects Foundation; NM Ecoglasnost (FoE Bulgaria); Union of Parks & Landscape Specialists; ZA ZEMIATA! (For the Earth); SIRIUS (Club for Research and Protection of the Nature and Human Achievements)

CYPRUS: Federation of Environmental and Ecological Organisations

CZECH REPUBLIC: WISE Brno; Centrum pro dopravu a energetiku (Centre for Transport and Energy)

DENMARK: NOAH (FoE Denmark); Danish Ecological Council; OVE - The Danish Organisation for Renewable Energy

ESTONIA: Estonian Green Movement-(Tartu) (FoE Estonia)

FINLAND: Finnish Association for Nature Conservation; Luonto-Liitto (Nature League): Miljöringen-Ympäristörengas

FRANCE: Les Amis de la Terre France (FoE France); Planete Odyssee; Réseau Action Climat (CAN France)

GERMANY: BUND (FoE Germany); German League for Nature and Environment; International Peace Bureau; Women for Peace; Gesellschaft für Strahlenschutz (German Society for Radiation Protection); IPPNW; "Nürnberger Bürgerinitiative gegen Atomanlagen" (Nuernberg Initative against nuclear plants); Freie Kommission für Frieden und Abrüstung (Free comission for peace and disarmament) (FKFA); FNA (FrauenNetzAttac) (naturopaths assoc); ATTAC-Heidelberg(Germany); Deutscher Verband für Tschernobyl-Hilfe e. V. (German Association for Chernobyl Help); WISE Uranium

HUNGARY: Energia Klub; Magyar Termeszetvedok Szovetsege (FoE Hungary); Green Women in Hungary; LevegΠMunkacsoport / Clean Air Action Group

IRELAND: Friends of the Earth Ireland

ITALY: Amici della Terra (FoE Italy); Legambiente; Campagna per la riforma della Banca mondiale; ON-OFF onlus Associazione di Promozione sociale

KOSOVO: Environmental Protection Association "Aquila"-Kosovo/a

LITHUANIA: Lithuanian Green Movement (FoE Lithuania); Community "Atgaja"

LUXEMBOURG; Mouvement Ecologique, FoE Luxembourg

NETHERLANDS: Vereniging Milieudefensie (FOE Netherlands); Women's International League for Peace and Freedom; Both ENDS; Women in Europe for a Common Future; WISE Netherlands

NORWAY: Norges Naturvernforbund (FoE Norway); Norges Fredslag (Norwegian Peace Society); Bellona Foundation

POLAND: Stowarzyszenie "Zielona Kultura" ("Green Culture" Association); Society for Nature and Man; Polski Klub Ekologiczny OM/PKE-FoE Poland

ROMANIA: MAMA TERRA / For Mother Earth-Romania

SERBIA: Belgrade Ecological Center

SLOVAKIA: ZA MATKU ZEM (For Mother Earth Slovakia); Center for Environmental Public Advocacy; WISE Solvakia

SLOVENIA: Umanotera, The Slovenian Foundation for Sustainable Development

SPAIN: Amigos de la Tierra España (FoE Spain); Itaca; Group of Scientists and Technicians for a Non Nuclear Future; Earth Day Catalonia; Only One Earth; Alternativa Verda; WISE Spain

SWEDEN: Miljöförbundet Jordens Vänner (FoE Sweden); Swedish Anti Nuclear Movement; WISE Sweden

SWITZERLAND: SORTIR DU NUCLEAIRE

UNITED KINGDOM: Friends of the Earth (England, Wales & Northern Ireland); Friends of the Earth (Scotland); Association for the Conservation of Energy; Our Common Future Bristol UK; Bradwell for Renewable Energy; The Atomic Mirror; Wales Young Greens

UKRAINE: NIRS/WISE Ukraine; Zelenyi Svit (FoE Ukraine)

OTHERS: Nuclear Information and Resource Service (Washington, DC); Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) (New York); GANE - Georgians Against Nuclear Energy; Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force.

Friends of the Earth is the largest grassroots environmental network in the world 
campaigning to protect the environment and to create sustainable societies.
Friends of the Earth Europe (FoEE) unites more than 30 national member groups with thousands of local groups.