Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-04-26-Speech-3-038"
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"en.20060426.9.3-038"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, even 20 years on, our minds still conjure up the horrors of the Chernobyl disaster; once again we see the incandescent gullet of the nuclear plant; once again we see the thousands of human lives snuffed out; once again we see children contaminated with huge doses of radiation. What is more, we read with alarm about the number of people who, as a result of Chernobyl, still die before their time. I was two months pregnant 20 years ago. As has been well-documented, my country, the then Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, did not escape the nuclear fallout. I would not want anybody to go through pregnancy with the gnawing, agonising fear of whether the child will be born healthy or a victim of the human errors, the propaganda lies and the arrogance of the regime.
I am pleased that the EU has invested hundreds of millions of euros into softening the impact of the nuclear disaster and I believe that it is in the interests of every citizen of the EU-25 to contribute towards the new safe sarcophagus over the Chernobyl plant and towards gradually getting life back on track in the area around Chernobyl, within the realms of what is feasible. I travel to Ukraine and I see the endeavours of the people in this area.
Ladies and gentlemen, despite all the horrors and fear that the word Chernobyl arouses to this day, I believe that we must admit that the EU cannot do without nuclear energy. As we are all aware, more than half of EU citizens are firmly opposed to the construction of new nuclear reactors. It is also true, however, that Russia, China, India and the United States have given the green light to nuclear energy. It also disturbs me greatly that in the last four years the price of gas has doubled, and that the EU has become a hostage to the Russian firm Gazprom, which, conscious of its power in the field of raw materials, recently clearly showed what it is capable of doing.
Ladies and gentlemen, let us be realistic and admit that most EU citizens will not obtain energy from biomass and wind farms, yet all citizens will want to switch lights on, heat their houses and manufacture goods; in short, they will want to live and use energy. I am convinced that nuclear energy is vital if the EU is to maintain both economic efficiency and living standards. In this regard, it would be opportune to tell the citizens openly that this will not be possible without new, modern and, as far as possible, the safest nuclear reactors. I feel that Greenpeace stunts or wind farms cannot take on the competition from Asia and America, which is based on using nuclear energy. I very much hope that this is clear not only to the Commission – which after all is well aware of the fact – but above all to Germany, which wants to decommission nuclear reactors within 15 years, even though it calls itself the industrial engine of Europe and a driving force for progress.
To conclude, I have a little nugget to offer opponents of nuclear energy, namely the latest report from Euronews. A short time ago, Euronews experts asserted that atomic energy is the best way of reducing global warming."@en1
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