Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-03-23-Speech-3-168-000"
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Mr President, honourable Members, I have listened attentively to your contributions and would like to thank you for the objectivity you have displayed, both in relation to the disaster and its consequences. We have heard expressions of solidarity and sympathy, as well as offers of help. There is nothing further to add to that. This encourages us in the work to be done by the Council Presidency and the Commission.
Mr Turmes, I really am trying hard to remain calm and objective here. I suggest you do the same. When you tell me not to trust Mr Sarkozy, I can only say that I have every confidence that he will table this point for discussion at the G-20 summit. This is a major success in itself: the issue will be discussed in a forum attended by the Americans, the Chinese, the Russians and others who already operate nuclear power plants, are planning to build new plants or have authorised major industrial concerns to build nuclear power plants in their countries. That is why I believe that the reassessment of risks and higher safety standards are essential, irrespective of whether one is for or against nuclear energy, because nuclear power is going to remain part of our global future.
This is not the time to go back over the ground covered in the debates of two years ago. I am not the right person to deal with on that score. You are welcome to make your views known when others come to speak. I do not believe that you are addressing this issue to the right office holder.
Let me turn to the question of the Energy Roadmap 2050 and the criticism we have heard that this does not sufficiently promote and fund renewable energy sources. In this case you are underestimating the power of your own resolutions, although we seek to monitor and guarantee compliance with such decisions. 20% renewable energy sources in just nine years actually corresponds to 35% in the crucial area of electricity generation, which is where these sustainable sources are primarily deployed. We are well on the way to generating 35% of electricity from renewable energy sources – and the Member States are playing their part – while renewable energy sources are set to overtake nuclear power and coal in electricity generation in four to five years. This means that we are on the way to making renewable energy sources the most important sources for electricity in Europe. We will present our concepts and scenarios for the Energy Roadmap 2050 in late spring. However, there are other significant dates besides 2050, which might seem far off – there are also interim targets for 2025 and 2030, in other words for the period that requires investment in infrastructure and production capacities right now. I do not want to make concrete commitments here at this point, but by 2030 we will certainly have gone beyond 35% renewable energy sources, reaching a figure of over 40%, or even 60%, or somewhere in between. If this does prove to be the case, then nobody will be able to argue that renewable energy sources did not receive sufficient backing; renewable energy sources will play a decisive part in the energy mix within our lifetime.
Mrs Harms, I am talking about the Energy Roadmap, while you are referring to the CO
Roadmap. These are two different issues. We have not lowered the targets for 2020. They are unchanged – a 20% standalone target and 30% if other countries follow suit. This has always been the position of Parliament, the Council and the Commission and this is the global offer on the table. There have been no changes. What we are talking about here is ‘renewable energy sources’ and that is where we shall achieve over 40%. We have therefore created a basis for ensuring that the energy mix is no longer just a matter for the Member States, but that the Member States share 50% of the responsibility, or a little more. Secondly, we have also set down requirements for establishing subsidy principles and for how the financial and technical resources are to be set up in the Member States with our cooperation.
You can rest assured, Mr Turmes, that the scenarios will seriously examine something that has been proposed by various bodies, namely a move to up to 100% renewable energy sources. However, then you need to take a look at the legislation, specifically Article 194, which states that the energy mix is a matter for the Member States. I do not regard the Treaty of Lisbon as set in stone. It does, however, provide the parameters for my activities, setting down the rights of the Member States. These rights are jealously guarded, whether in Berlin, Luxembourg, Paris or London.
I have one final point to make. I listened very carefully to what Mr Davies and Mr Hall had to say. They both belong to the same party. They both come from the same Member State. Yet, as we have heard, they have diametrically opposed positions. I respect that. When a small party in a large country can accommodate such divergent opinion as expressed by these two honourable Members and when the same party was opposed to nuclear energy in its country before the election but can accept it now that the election has taken place, then I respect this nonetheless. However, this goes to show the ecological, economic and political dimension of this issue, which is why we shall always have disagreement. Part of the process is always global in nature.
The general issue at stake here is disaster response. If we consider Haiti and Pakistan and the host of other recent natural disasters, then I believe that the Commission’s communication on an improved European disaster response, which was approved by the Council in December of last year, points the way ahead. We need to improve cooperation within the framework of disaster response procedures at a European level and must dedicate appropriate financial and human resources to this, as well as coordinating efforts at European level. I have no doubt that Mrs Georgieva will bring some concrete proposals to Parliament and the Council during the course of the year.
When it comes to energy policy in Europe and the lessons to be drawn from the new information arriving from Japan, I believe that we need to start by taking an honest look at the facts and realities. Let me take the example of the German Government and its coalition parties, reminding you that I am a member of one of these parties. Our government has announced a significant change of direction. Seven nuclear power stations have currently been taken offline in Germany. This action has been criticised for ‘not showing much credibility’ or for being a ‘typical display of German angst’. I believe we need to remember that respect for different positions should be the starting point for deliberations. I wish to express my respect for Parliament, which a few years ago gave its clear backing to the permanent use of nuclear power in the European energy mix, but which has doubtless begun to reconsider this position . Secondly, I wish to express my respect for the EU’s regulatory powers. I have re-read the Euratom Treaty very carefully and have also looked closely at the Nuclear Safety Directive adopted by the Council and Parliament in June two years ago. The second document makes many formal recommendations about the authorities to be established, information and reporting obligations and other points, but offers hardly any specific, material recommendations for construction or operating techniques, or even the most general specifications.
If Parliament proposes extending European legislation today, I am quite prepared not to wait for the reports from the Member States in 2014 before submitting a report to the Commission, but to insist that this Directive should become national law by July of this year at the latest – this would be incumbent upon the Member States – so that it will be possible, as further information is gathered from Japan and from the comprehensive stress tests, to discuss a proposal from the Commission for further specific, material requirements for nuclear safety here in Brussels over the next year rather than later.
It has been said that I need to ‘act decisively’. I would disagree, however. I will take a consistent approach to this issue in asking what competences European legislators have and have not given me. When, even in the current climate, I hear criticism from some national governments for an over-dramatic assessment of the situation and the lessons to be learned from it, while others say it is high time I took decisive action, then I prefer to take a middle course. I have always felt comfortable on the middle ground. When you are criticised by both sides, then perhaps you are actually getting things right.
Many of Europe’s 143 nuclear power stations will still be online in ten years’ time and, unless present governments have a change of heart, many, though not all, will still be operating in the following decade too. Consequently, it is in all our interests to insist on the highest safety levels, new standards and a further reduction of risks for those nuclear power stations remaining in operation in the medium to long term.
Secondly, I assume that new nuclear power plants will be built in Europe under the aegis of the Member States, their national parliaments and governments. If we consider the referendum to be held in Italy in June, then we can see what is coming down the line and I note that with the exception of Germany, none of the thirteen Member States who operate nuclear power plants have changed their policy on this issue. I have been closely monitoring the debates at national governmental and parliamentary level and in the media
We need to understand that, although this is a European issue, there is also a global dimension. It is in all our interests to ensure that the highest standards apply not only in our own territories, but also throughout the world, as, after all, nuclear power will be in use around the world for decades to come. It is for this reason that I welcome …"@en1
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