PR:Comment on Almunia support for Hinkley nuclear plan

Press release - September 22, 2014

Comment on Almunia support for Hinkley nuclear plan
Brussels – Commenting on media reports of European competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia’s support for the approval of public funding for the construction of the Hinkley Point nuclear power station, Greenpeace EU legal adviser Andrea Carta said: “If competition commissioner Almunia has backed State aid for Hinkley, it risks a backroom deal prevailing over the rule of law."

"Only a year ago the Commission said that Hinkley was 'in principle incompatible under EU State aid rules'. Now, under pressure from the UK government and French nuclear operator EDF, the Commission is preparing to perform a U-turn.

European Commissioners should oppose the plan and resist rushing through a controversial and far-reaching decision in the dying days of this Commission.

The Hinkley plan would lock two generations of UK taxpayers into subsiding outdated and risky nuclear power until almost 2060 at a time when increasingly cheaper renewables are re-writing the rules of energy systems around the world. This money would be better spent on genuinely clean technologies and more ambitious energy saving measures."

Contact: Greenpeace EU press desk: +32 (0)2 274 1911, [mailto:pressdeskDOTeuATgreenpeaceDOTorg pressdesk DOT eu AT greenpeace DOT org]

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source:
 * http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/en/News/2014/Comment-on-Almunia-support-for-Hinkley-nuclear-plan/