EURATOM: An Obstacle to a Fast and Fair Energy Transition

The European Parliament, Commission and Council have now paved the way for the "Conference on the Future of Europe", will this event be the opportunity to address the reform of the Euratom Treaty? 

The Euratom treaty – which sets the expansion of the civil use of nuclear energy as a common goal of the European Union - has hardly changed since the six founding countries signed it more than 60 years ago. However, the situation and objectives of the European Union have changed considerably over the years. Many European member states have either never used nuclear power or have decided to phase it out. At the same time, the EU has also set itself targets to achieve a carbon-neutral European Union by 2050. Is a separate legal personality compatible with this objective? How can we ensure the democratisation of this Treaty through the full involvement of the European Parliament and civil society in nuclear legislation?

This conference will be based on the recommendations of 6 European NGOs, the expertise of the lawyer Doerte Fouquet and the feedback from the European Commission and Members of the European Parliament.

PROGRAM

2:00pm WELCOMES

MEPs Michèle Rivasi (France, Greens/EFA), Thomas Waitz (Austria, Greens/EFA)
 

2:15pm STATEMENTS FROM NGOs

• Case in point: Hinkley Point C and Austria's legal actions, Julia Bohnert, PLAGE (Austria)
• An obstacle to the development of renewable energies, Christine Hasse, Réaction en chaîne humaine (France)
• Radiation protection standards as established under EURATOM, Roland Desbordes, CRIIRAD (France)
• The perspective of non-nuclear EU member states, Niels Henrik Hooge, NOAH (Denmark)
• Germany’s two-faced nuclear policies, Günter Hermeyer, BI Lüchow-Dannenberg (Germany)
• EURATOM - an undemocratic zone within the EU institutions, Gabi Schweiger, atomstopp (Austria)

3:00pm THE EURATOM TREATY AND THE LEGAL PERSPECTIVE 
Dr. Dörte Fouquet, lawyer and partner BBL

3:10pm POTENTIAL OF THE CONFERENCE ON THE FUTURE OF EUROPE TO MODIFY TREATIES SUCH AS EURATOM 
Daniel Freund, Greens/EFA Member leading the negotiations on the European Parliament's resolution "Conference on the Future of Europe"

3:20pm RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE EXPERTS GROUP TO REFORM THE EURATOM TREATY
TBC, DG Energy, European Commission

3:30pm FEEDBACK FROM MEPs & CONCLUSIONS
Jutta Paulus (Greens/EFA, Germany), Eleonora EVI (Italy, Greens/EFA), Manuel Bompard (GUE/NGL, France)

 Interpretation in EN, FR and DE