Berlin has officially requested that the civil nuclear sector should be included in the next round of EU sanctions against Russia. The European Commission was forced to abandon plans to feature this in its latest (10th) sanctions package due to opposition from Hungary, which is heavily reliant on the sector.
Brussels has worked to cut down its reliance on Russian gas and hamper the country’s production of coal since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. But trade with its nuclear energy industry, which is reported to be worth hundreds of millions of euros, has yet to be directly affected. The German economy ministry earlier this week laid out its intention to alter this course with the upcoming 11th sanctions package, reporting that
The federal government spoke to the European Commission in favour of including the civilian nuclear sector. That should be part of the next sanctions package.
It added that while updating the next programme of economic penalties could take some time, “it is important, however, that we start and do not shy away from decisive action in this area either.” At the head of the ministry, Robert Habeck stressed that “nuclear technology is an extremely sensitive area. There can no longer be ‘business as usual.’”
The most prominent reports on the request omitted the news that, after many years of talk, Germany this month completed the shutdown of its own domestic nuclear industry. Fatih Birol, the director of the International Energy Agency, described this as “a strategic mistake.” Despite nuclear power having provided more than 13% of the country’s energy needs up to 2021, the German government insisted that it did not fit right with its green transition. The move is said to be “irreversible.”
All EU countries must agree before the bloc is able to impose fresh sanctions on Moscow. In February, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjartó stated that sanctions against Russian nuclear power would harm his country’s interests, and should not be put forward by the EU.
It is currently unclear how Germany plans to persuade Budapest to follow suit on nuclear sanctions this time around.
