New German Lobbying Group Opposes Planned Tax On Nuclear Fuel
Written by NucNet
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
A new lobbying group set up in Germany is calling on the government not to put a tax on nuclear fuel and for Germany to continue using nuclear power and coal for the foreseeable future.
The group, Energiezukunft für Deutschland (Energy Future for Germany), has launched its own website and has been running full-page newspaper advertisements saying there needs to be a full public discussion on energy policy. The group says that that while renewable energy has a future, coal and nuclear must remain part of the country’s energy mix.
The group’s 41 members include the chief executives of all four German nuclear utilities – E.ON, EnBW, RWE and Vattenfall Europe – Deutsche Bank, union leaders, and members of the Christian Democratic party, which leads Germany’s coalition government.
Germany chancellor Angela Merkel is planning a tax on nuclear fuel to raise 2.3 billion euro (2.9 billion US dollars) as part of the government’s “fiscal consolidation efforts”.
Germany’s 17 operating nuclear units are due to be phased out in a little more than a decade according to a consensual agreement of 2002. Ms Merkel reiterated at the weekend she favoured an extension of plant operating lifetimes, but said the current review of energy policy needed to be done “thoroughly”. She said: “I can understand everyone who wants to have a decision.”
