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Taxonomy: Lemke announces "No" to the EU proposal on nuclear power

2022-01-10T07:15:17.836Z


According to the new environment minister in Brussels, the federal government wants to position itself against the planned classification of nuclear energy as a technology eligible for funding. But this will be of little use.


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Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke

Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa

According to Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens), the Federal Government will clearly oppose the EU Commission's proposal to classify nuclear power as sustainable and therefore worthy of funding.

The statement of the federal government will contain “a clear no” to the inclusion of nuclear power in the so-called taxonomy, said Lemke on Sunday in the ARD program “Report from Berlin”.

The new minister admitted that she considered the chances of a successful blockade to be low.

The German positioning is "not legally binding".

The Green Party politician explained that the negative stance on the Commission proposal was "closed" by the traffic light government: "That is a good thing, and we will convey that to the Commission." It would then be the decision of the Brussels authority, " how she continues to deal with her taxonomy proposal «.

The federal government lacks supporters

According to the Federal Environment Minister, the Federal Government's position on the taxonomy recommendation should be ready "in the next few days" and sent to the Commission.

But Berlin apparently does not have enough supporters in other capitals for a blockade in the EU Council of Ministers.

"There will only be a vote in the Council of Ministers if a sufficient number of member states come together to raise an objection to this text," Lemke told the Tagesspiegel (Monday edition).

"And here I have to note that the likelihood of this is currently not considered to be very high."

To stop the EU Commission's proposal, at least 20 of the 27 EU member states with at least 65 percent of the EU population would have to vote against it - or an absolute majority in the European Parliament.

Neither is in sight.

The Brussels authority had sent its proposal for the so-called taxonomy regulation on New Year's Eve to the EU member states, which have since had around two weeks to comment.

The taxonomy is a kind of classification of sustainable economic activities and is equivalent to a classification as worthy of funding and a recommendation to investors.

The EU Commission proposes, among other things, to classify investments in new nuclear power plants or to extend the life of existing plants as sustainable and climate-friendly under certain circumstances.

Ultimately, it is about directing financial flows into sustainable investments, Lemke told the "Tagesspiegel".

This goal is being "broken" by the Commission's plans.

"Now we are threatened that private and public money will be channeled into problematic developments and not, as is urgently needed, into renewable energies and the hydrogen economy," said Lemke.

The minister also believes that the sustainability rating for natural gas is wrong.

The traffic light parties had stated in the coalition agreement that Germany needed fossil gas as a bridging technology, and that would also require investments in corresponding power plants.

From the outset, these should also work with climate-friendly energy sources made from hydrogen.

But according to Lemke, the taxonomy label "definitely did not need".

che / AFP

Source: spiegel

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