EUROSOLAR Press Release, June 23rd, 2003

"A competence of the European Union for energy is incompatible with the unrestricted upholding of EURATOM"

Regarding the Draft Constitution of the EU-Convention the President of EUROSOLAR and Chairman of the World Council for Renewable Energy (WCRE), Dr. Hermann Scheer, MP, declares:

The Draft Constitution of the EU Convention sets two serious energy-political courses: The EURATOM Treaty is further to apply without any reduction. That means: the privilege of nuclear energy would continue beyond all market rules and without democratic control.

In the future, energy policy is to belong to the competencies of the European Union. However, the combination of these two constitutional elements is not acceptable. It would favor nuclear energy and debit Renewable Energies.

The prioritized and substantial promotion of Renewable Energies is the most important goal of all sustainable energy policy. The use of Renewable Energy has to be aligned with the bureaucratic conditions, which are inevitably different from country to country. Therefore, the centralization of EU competence in energy policy is already very doubtful. Issues that have to be promoted by political instruments, which need to be adapted to corresponding geographical conditions, do not get along with uniform political instruments of the EU. The unequal can never be treated equally.

Everything that is anyway doubtful, would become intolerable by the unchanged status of EURATOM in the future European Union. As a result, a competence of the European Union for energy policy must be rejected as long as the EURATOM Treaty and the promotion of nuclear energy are not abolished. All governments in Europe, which seriously intent to promote Renewable Energy, should work on it.

 Programme EUROSOLAR conference "From EURATOM to EURENEW" (pdf)