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(Bloomberg) — Spanish Energy Minister Teresa Ribera said that caving in to France’s request to reopen the European Union’s agreement on expanding renewable energy would be a “very dangerous exercise” that could jeopardize the European Union’s decision-making capabilities in the future.
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France is currently pressing the executive arm of the European Union and Sweden, which holds the rotating presidency of the Union, to ensure a greater role for nuclear energy in achieving the goals of the 2030 climate bloc. This has angered a number of countries, including Germany, as well as the European Parliament, which has reached an agreement on rules in March.
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“It could be a mess,” Ribera said in an interview in Brussels. This is terrible in terms of building confidence in the European way of solving problems. So no, we don’t want to open the contents.”
Read more: EU nuclear row escalates as key vote delayed
France’s move to secure more guarantees on a key pillar of the EU’s green deal comes after Germany attempted a similar move to secure a role for so-called e-fuels in the planned mass combustion engine phase-out. The European Union is also facing pushback on a number of its other laws, including a plan to restore nature in the region. French President Emmanuel Macron called for an organizational pause.
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Meanwhile, 10 countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, have called on Sweden to finalize final approval of the Renewable Energy Directive as soon as possible, according to a letter seen by Bloomberg. Approval requires a qualified majority of Member States.
“We would like to confirm our support for the agreement reached with Parliament,” the letter said. “This is the key to quickly launching the necessary investments and creating legal certainty and predictability for investors in renewable energy.”
Ribera said she hopes to reach an agreement when energy ministers from the 27 EU member states meet in Luxembourg on June 19. Sweden also wants to reach an agreement on reforming the electricity market – something Ribera said may not be possible. Spain is scheduled to take over the presidency of the European Union in July.
“I’m not very optimistic that we’ll get a common approach on the 19th,” she said. “It needs further discussion.”
(Updates with character details in the fifth paragraph.)
