The EU has to answer a question: is nuclear power green (since it emits very little carbon dioxide) or not (because nuclear accidents, though extremely rare, are dangerous)?
Where nuclear power was once a source of unity for Europe, today it is a source of discord. The common market morphed into the’s 27 countries, only 13 produce nuclear power. Some ban it. France and Germany, the two countries that dominatepolicymaking, find themselves directly opposed. France generates over 70% of its power from nuclear reactors. Germany has pledged to close all its nuclear power plants by 2022. For France and its atomic allies, nuclear energy has a bright future.
In this debate, Germany is likely to be on the losing side. It gave up on nuclear power after the Fukushima disaster in 2011, when an earthquake and tsunami caused a meltdown in Japan. Angela Merkel vowed to ban it in barely a decade. Countries from Belgium to Bulgaria followed, scrapping plans to build nuclear power stations and pledging to switch others off. However, opinions have shifted. Germany knows it does not have the votes to stop nuclear power being rated as green.
At the same time France is increasingly influential. Europe falling back in love with nuclear power is just one example of the many policy debates heading in a French direction. On everything from industrial policy, where the club is now enthusiasticallyis speaking French. Nuclear power is another debate in which Paris gets its way.is a dealmaking machine, with consensus forged via a mix of bribery, blackmail and back-scratching. Gas power is undergoing the same kinds of debate as nuclear power.
If the politics are linked, so are the policy consequences. Take another neuralgic debate: reform of the’s spending rules. A likely compromise is that while stiff rules could remain for day-to-day spending, countries could be able to spend more freely in the name of the green transition. If nuclear power is labelled green in the private sector, it becomes harder to avoid a similar designation when it comes to public money.
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