11 EU ministers, including the Czech Republic, form new nuclear alliance

With the sharp rise in natural gas prices and other energy commodities in recent months, calls for further development of nuclear power or extensions to the operation of existing units have once again begun to grow louder across the EU. The French Ministry of Energy announced at the start of this week that 11 energy ministers from across the EU had agreed to closer cooperation in the field of nuclear energy.

The new “nuclear alliance” was formed during an informal meeting of ministers in Stockholm, Sweden. The aim of the new partnership is to deepen cooperation between the nuclear sectors of these countries, including cooperation on supply chains, as well as exploring opportunities for joint worker training and joint industrial programmes to support existing facilities and new projects.

According to Montel, the ministers also discussed opportunities for cooperation in research and a coordinated approach to deploying the best available technologies and practices in the field of nuclear safety.

The new alliance was formed by the energy ministers of Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. According to the news outlet, the French Ministry of Energy said on Sunday that Sweden was also expected to attend the joint meeting, but was ultimately absent from the list of countries. The French ministry explained this by saying that Sweden could not join for formal reasons, as it must maintain neutrality during its current EU presidency.

However, according to the French ministry, Sweden continues to cooperate with France in the field of nuclear energy, while French semi-state-owned company EDF is interested in the potential construction of new nuclear units in Sweden. According to the ministry, other countries, including Belgium, Italy and some Baltic states, are also considering membership of the new alliance.

Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Jozef Síkela told Montel that the ministers were entirely on the same wavelength and supported the idea of a nuclear alliance, as last year’s energy crisis had highlighted the need for stable and sustainable low-carbon energy sources.