By Emily Smith - 12th January 2004
MEPs on Tuesday will vote on a controversial package of nuclear safety laws – but the proposals are unlikely to go to national governments before the summer.
Parliamentarians are expected to vote through the first reading of three proposals on nuclear waste, nuclear installations, and loans for nuclear power stations.
But European Commission sources say the package will probably not make it to a council meeting before the new member states join in May, when it may be even harder to push through.
They attribute this to a lack on enthusiasm on the part of the Irish, who currently hold the rotating EU presidency.
Ireland is notoriously anti-nuclear, and one source said the presidency was “not pushing for this to make it to council”.
The proposals may in any case run into difficulty with member states’ governments, with the UK, Germany, Sweden and Finland forming a blocking minority to prevent it being approved.
If, as seems likely after a meeting of the atomic questions group in Brussels on Friday, Italy joins these four countries, the minority may be large enough to block the package even after enlargement.
Lithuania and the Czech Republic are also expected to be against the proposals, with Lithuania particularly wary of any more EU involvement in its nuclear sector.
As a condition for joining the EU, Lithuania had to agree to closing down its Ignalina nuclear power plant because it did not meet EU standards, even though Vilnius claimed it was in fact extremely safe.
Like the UK, Lithuania is worried that the nuclear package will compromise the powers of their national authorities.
The UK claims that, as they stand, the proposals do not clarify what role the commission will play in nuclear safety standards.
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