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France's Minister of Economic Affairs, Bruno Le Maire
Photo: SARAH MEYSSONNIER / REUTERS
France will take over the EU Council Presidency on January 1, 2022 and wants to make progress on the issue of climate neutrality.
Two projects are to be promoted: a CO₂ tax on climate-damaging goods manufactured outside the EU and the recognition of nuclear power as a »sustainable investment«.
A CO₂ tax is intended to prevent European companies from relocating their production abroad because they are subject to less stringent climate protection rules there.
Or that companies from non-EU countries that have no or only low climate targets undercut European producers.
"The CO₂ border tax will be at the center of the French EU Council Presidency from January 1, 2022," said France's Economics Minister Bruno Le Maire to the newspapers of the Funke media group and the French newspaper "Ouest-France".
The European Parliament is in favor of such a charge.
But such a mechanism must conform to the rules of the World Trade Organization.
With reference to this, the federal government has so far reacted cautiously to a CO₂ border tax.
The EU agreed on new goals on Wednesday.
The EU states and the European Parliament decided to reduce CO₂ emissions by "at least 55 percent" by 2030.
The European climate law also sets the goal for the EU to become climate neutral by 2050.
Authorize nuclear power for "green financing"
With reference to these goals, France wants to move forward with its other major project.
Le Maire again insisted that the EU should recognize nuclear power as a CO₂-free energy and promote it accordingly.
"Europe will not achieve the goal of CO₂ neutrality by 2050 without nuclear power," he said.
"All our European partners must understand that nuclear power is one of the essential foundations of competitiveness and sovereignty of France, but also of European energy sovereignty."
France and six Eastern EU countries are demanding that nuclear power be viewed as a "sustainable investment".
The dispute over this was "intense," admitted Le Maire.
Nevertheless, he was optimistic that the French perspective would prevail: "We are well on the way to ensuring that nuclear energy is recognized as CO₂-free energy that is eligible for green financing in Europe."
France is still considered to be the "atomic country" of Europe.
According to earlier information, it ranks second behind the USA among the largest producers of nuclear power worldwide.
By contrast, Germany decided in 2011 to gradually phase out nuclear energy by 2022 at the latest.
The federal government and Austria strictly reject the construction of new nuclear reactors.
They demand that such projects be excluded from EU funding in principle.
France, on the other hand, covers more than 70 percent of its energy needs with nuclear power.
Although this share is expected to drop to 50 percent by 2035, Paris does not rule out the construction of new nuclear power plants.
In Germany, as part of the energy transition, all reactors are to be shut down by the end of 2022.
mmq / dpa / AFP
