MADRID – The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, made his statement on Wednesday in the plenary of the Congress of Deputies that nuclear energy is neither ‘safe’ nor ‘cheap’. However, a little later he nuanced his words to confirm that in Spain the safety of the reactors is guaranteed.
Citizens in danger?
Sánchez made this statement during his plenary speech. This was later responded to by Edmundo Bal of the liberal right Cuidadanos party. Bal asked the president if he really wanted to convey to the Spanish public opinion that nuclear energy is ‘not safe’ and that therefore citizens are ‘in danger’, since there are seven reactors in Spain and 178 throughout Europe.
Spanish government watches over safety
Prime Minister Sánchez then confirmed that the Spanish government is taking care of ‘the safety’ of nuclear power plants, although he also believes that the energy of the future ‘is not’. In his opinion, nuclear energy ‘should not be Europe’s gamble’. He recalled that his party, the socialist PSOE, has opposed the EU’s green taxonomy in the European Parliament. The PSOE believes that investments in nuclear and in gas cannot be sustainable and green.
Green taxonomy
With ‘green taxonomy’ Sánchez referred to the classification system introduced by the European Commission. This is a green label that should let investors know where they stand and which investments are sustainable. Such as gas and nuclear energy. Bal also wondered ‘whether they have gone mad in Europe to include nuclear energy in the taxonomy’.
