Pressure grows for Convention to ditch “relic from the past” Euratom

Date: 06/03/03

By Karen Carstens

PRESSURE is mounting for the Convention on Europe's future to scrap the Euratom Treaty.

Some 109 civil society groups from across Europe, along with four from America, presented a declaration to Convention members on Monday (3 March) calling for the end of Euratom, the only remaining sector-specific EU treaty.

"Euratom is out of date, undemocratic and biased," said Mark Johnston of Friends of the Earth Europe. "It is a relic from the past and well overdue for repeal."

The Convention's secretariat is expected to hammer out a position paper on how to handle the 1957 treaty, which was designed to provide a secure framework in which to develop nuclear energy. A first draft is due to be discussed at a praesidium meeting today (6 March) and could be presented to the Convention's next plenary session (17-18 March) if accepted.

"It's reaching a critical phase now," said Johnston, warning that any failure to publish the paper soon would be a clear indication of political deadlock.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, for example, "wants to ignore the issue and let Euratom die a slow death on the sidelines", claimed the campaigner.

The pro-nuclear French, meanwhile, want Euratom incorporated into a future EU constitutional treaty, while some traditionally anti-nuclear member states, including Austria, Ireland and Denmark, would like to see it scrapped as soon as possible.

"There will be a big political clash on this," Johnston said.

Even more fuel will be added to the fire when the European Parliament's constitutional affairs committee holds a hearing on the issue initiated by German MEP Jo Leinen, another Euratom foe, on 20 March.

At the hearing, Euratom experts from the Commission and Germany are set to discuss proposals by Loyola de Palacio, the transport and energy commissioner, to boost the amount of money that can be borrowed through Euratom from €4 billion to €6 billion. This extra funding would be earmarked to improve security at ageing nuclear plants in some of the countries joining the EU next year.

However, in a joint declaration to the Convention, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, CEE Bankwatch Network, the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation, Climate Action Network Europe and other groups state that "European public opinion does not support the special treatment of nuclear power".

Seven of the current 15 member states have never adopted nuclear power, they point out, and a further four - including Germany - have decided to stop using it.

At the same time, MEPs fromthe Green/European Free Alliance Group including Scottish Nationalist Neil MacCormick, an alternate representative of the Parliament on the Convention, have also demanded an end to Euratom.

Signed on the same day as the treaty which established the European Economic Community, Euratom deals with the safeguarding of nuclear materials, security of uranium supply and coordination of research into the peaceful use of nuclear power. Unlike the 1952 Coal and Steel Treaty that expired last year, Euratom has no expiry date.

Johnston said the Convention and upcoming Inter-Governmental Conference (IGC) "offer an unprecedented opportunity to finally get rid of Euratom".

Pressure is mounting for the Convention on Europe's future to scrap Euratom, the only remaining sector-specific EU treaty.