That has raised concerns among pro-nuclear MEPs and EU countries that Spain’s top climate envoy could derail plans to expand nuclear power across the bloc, just as the industry is riding a new wave of political momentum. The biggest stir is likely to come in France, where a hegemonic nuclear industry supplies around 70 percent of the country’s electricity.
These fears are likely to play out on the public stage this fall, when Ribera appears before Parliament for her confirmation hearing as EU commissioner. She will inevitably face pointed questions about whether she would block a revival of nuclear power. And her answers could make or break her candidacy, since support for nuclear power unites politicians from numerous political families.
“In every political group there are people who would not vote for someone who is a vocal opponent of nuclear power,” said pro-nuclear French MEP Christophe Grudler of the centrist Renew Europe group, who could ultimately be one of the MEPs who decide Ribera’s fate.
“A Commissioner… is here to implement the Commission’s programme – there is no room for personal feelings,” he added. “She just has to go along with it… and I can assure you that we will make sure that she goes along with it.”
A French minister even admitted to POLITICO that his country – the EU’s most prominent and vocal proponent of nuclear power – is “trying to make sure that energy does not go to an anti-nuclear power party.”
Nuclear fallout
The race to become the EU’s next energy commissioner comes amid renewed excitement over nuclear power and at a critical time for an industry that claims it has long been forgotten in Brussels.
