Since Germany decided to phase out nuclear power after the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011, Paris and Berlin have been constantly battling over the issue of the atom. In recent months, this diplomatic, political and economic confrontation has taken on a rare intensity, while the fight against global warming and the war in Ukraine are pushing Europe to get rid of fossil fuels. And it is in Brussels that he delivers himself. Blackmail, haggling, struggle for influence and high-dose communication are the ingredients of this war that keeps specialists in the sector in suspense.
At least five community legislative projects under consideration are already bearing the brunt of this, struggling to move forward: on renewable energies, the gas package, air and maritime fuels, the hydrogen bank. And France and Germany are preparing their weapons on two other strategic texts that the European Commission will soon present. The first deals with the reform of the European electricity market, the second with how to develop a competitive green industry in the European Union (EU) in the face of Chinese and American offensives.
Some of these regulations under construction concern the fate of low-carbon hydrogen, that is to say produced from the atom, to decarbonize industry and long-distance transport, alongside the renewable hydrogen. Others will be eminently structuring for the economic viability of the French nuclear sector and the competitiveness of France.
Precise blocking point
In the immediate future, the protagonists of this war are concentrating on the directive on renewable energies, while a new negotiation meeting is scheduled for Monday March 6 between the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament. Two camps, one led by Germany, the other by France, clash, each with a blocking minority on a specific point: should low-carbon hydrogen be taken into account to measure Member States’ efforts to reach the target of 45% renewables in their energy mix by 2030?
For Berlin and its Spanish, Luxembourg or Austrian allies, only green hydrogen, produced with wind or photovoltaic electricity, is eligible. Unacceptable, answer Paris and its friends, mainly from Eastern and Central Europe, who rely on the atom to help them respect the Paris agreement. “Prohibiting the use of nuclear power, which is an energy that emits less carbon than photovoltaics or wind power, is a climaticidal position, and absurd”repeats the Minister of Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
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