At a Ministerial Council meeting in France last August, French and German delegates declared support for the “equal treatment” of both nuclear power and renewable electricity sources within the European Union (EU). The news came as a shock to environment and policy observers, because Germany has strenuously opposed nuclear power for years. The reversal was noticed in May when German Chancellor Merz and French President Macron agreed to “end discrimination” against nuclear power at the EU level, and in June when German Energy Minister Katherina Reiche attended a meeting of pro-nuclear states. Ms. Reiche, a former gas industry lobbyist, said she intends to slow the pace and reduce promotion of renewable energy expansion. Even Germany’s anti-nuclear Environment Minister Carsten Schneider has been silent on the turnaround.
EU negotiations on its multi-annual financial “framework” (for the years 2028 to 2034) are ongoing, but in June a first draft was issued which, for the first time, allows the funding of research on mini reactors, and permits the construction of new nuclear reactors to be directly eligible for funding. Such funding would reverse the EU’s current policy, and, in Germany, taxpayers’ money would flow to international nuclear power projects in spite of the country’s complete reactor phase-out. Without clear opposition from Germany, support for nuclear power will increase, and investments in wind and solar projects will become less attractive. — Broadcast, newsletter of Together Against Nuclear Energy, Germany, October 2025, https://www.ausgestrahlt.de/
Photo: Clean Energy Wire
