During the meeting of the PES Environment and Climate Change Network, many social democratic and socialists parties underlined their preference for a fast European-wide phase out of nuclear energy. During the meeting, members of national parliaments, MEPs and experts from civil society discussed the conditions under which nuclear energy could be replaced by renewable energy as soon as possible. The discussions at the network will serve as a basis for a declaration on this issue to be adopted by the PES Presidency on the 14th April.

Kathleen van Brempt, Member of the European Parliament and the PES network emphasized: “In light of the need to massively invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency, the austerity-only policy of the European Commission is no longer feasible. New funding must be available to speed up the energy production from wind, sun, water, geo-thermal heat and the oceans. A large-scale increase in investments for energy efficiency and renewable energy will not only help us to make energy production safe and sustainable, but it will create new jobs and accelerate growth.”

Jo Leinen further stressed: “After what we have seen in Japan, it is unacceptable that we continue financing nuclear energy with EU funds. We cannot allow a distortion of competition to the disadvantage of renewable energy anymore. Power producers must be obliged to properly ensure the risks of nuclear energy installations. They cannot be exempted from the costs of storing nuclear waste. Instead of supporting nuclear energy, we need to do everything to increase the use of renewable energy. The current Euratom-Treaty is totally outdated. I call on the European Heads of Governments to replace the Eurotam-Treaty by a Renewable Energy-System.”

The PES network furthermore supported the call for accelerating the transformation of the transport system to reduce emissions. Said El Khadraoui, PES Presidency member, stated: “Without reforming transport, we can neither fight climate change, nor can we meet the challenges of an increasingly urbanised society. Instead of concentrating on small scale improvements in the efficiency of combustion engines only, we must actively support the strengthening of public transport. In addition, real progress must be made on supporting the electrification of Europe’s car fleet. According to the polluters pay principle, emission and other externalities caused by road transport should be priced into the system. Therefore, a comprehensive Eurovignette and a European Carbon Tax should be introduced.”