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Press release For immediate release
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Press release For immediate release
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EC puts UK nuclear rescue in spotlight (Brussels, 23 July 2003) The European Commission's launching of a full investigation into the bailout of British Energy plc (BE), the failed nuclear generator, is overshadowed by the fact that the case may be judged partly under the 1957 Euratom Treaty. Despite supporting the Commission's scrutiny of the case, Friends of the Earth Europe expresses its concern that Euratom's pro-nuclear bias could effectively represent a 'get out of jail free card' for BE and for other nuclear generators who cannot pay their bills. The move also undermines on-going negotiations on the new directive on power market liberalisation. British Energy sought state aid last autumn after it ran out of cash. The rescue proposals involves several measures that together amount to billions of pounds of public subsidy over many decades. FOE understands that the Commission has declared some of these measures unlawful, including an annual discount worth around GBP140M on reprocessing deals from state-owned BNFL. These provisional views of the Commission are however said to be "without prejudice to the application of Euratom". Today's announcement is the result of a fudged deal between the Competition and Energy Commissioners. Mario Monti is in effect conceding a dilution of competition law because Loyola de Palacio has insisted that Euratom, despite it being 46 years old, should still used. Nuclear is the only sector of the European economy to get this special treatment. The Euratom agreement is one of the EU's founding treaties, signed along with the EEC treaty in Rome in 1957. Along with the other treaties, it governs the running of the EU institutions today. It ought to have been overhauled by the recently ended European Convention but was overlooked. The forthcoming Inter-Governmental Conference will now decide if this fundamental conflict within EU's primary law should end or continue. Mark Johnston, campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe said: "British Energy is a landmark case both for the single market and the revision of the treaties. Failure to take the right approach calls into doubt the commitment level of the Commission and others to the future of the EU and its objectives, especially the single market. Euratom is long past its sell by date and must go. No sensible person would use it in the way now being advocated. This fudged deal points to interference by the strongly pro-nuclear and anti-market attitudes of Mrs de Palacio and her staff." Contact: Mark Johnston +44 79 7331 9249
Friends of the Earth
Europe campaigns for sustainable and fair societies and for the
protection of the environment, |