The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament has today sent an open letter* to Commission President Barroso calling for the competences of EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes in the area of nuclear energy to be immediately withdrawn. The letter is in response to a public statement by Commissioner Kroes on Monday, 1 October, that she is "completely in favour of nuclear power". This statement came just one week after a crucial decision by the European Commission on state aid with regard to the Finnish nuclear reactor Olkiluoto 3. Commenting on the Greens/EFA demand, Co-Presidents Monica Frassoni and Dany Cohn-Bendit said:
"Impartiality is fundamental to the legitimate exercise of duties by the EU Competition Commissioner. By clearly stating a preference for nuclear power, the Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes has cast serious doubt over her ability to be impartial in decisions on competition matters relating to nuclear energy. Commission President Barroso stated at the outset of his term that any Commissioner's competences would be transferred in cases where there is a clear conflict of interests. We are calling on President Barroso to remain true to his word and immediately withdraw the competences of Competition Commissioner Kroes in the area of nuclear power."
Greens/EFA vice-presidents and energy spokespersons Claude Turmes and Rebecca Harms added:
"Commissioner Kroes' profession of support for nuclear power calls recent EU competition decisions in the area of nuclear power into question; imagine if Commissioner Kroes were to state she is "completely in favour" of Linux, following the competition case with Microsoft. Given this clear conflict of interest, the EU must reopen the investigation into the credit guarantee given by the French government with regard to the construction of the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant in Finland. The decision on this investigation was announced by Commissioner Kroes only one week before her nuclear confession. The Commission must re-evaluate whether the French government's guarantee of the loan granted to the Finnish electricity producer TVO constitutes illegal state aid."
Editors note:
• More information can be found in the open letter, which has been sent by the Greens/EFA group to Commission President Barroso and is available at the following link: http://www.greens-efa.org/cms/topics/dokbin/200/200039.competition_and_energy_policy_conflict@en.pdf
