I am exaggerating, of course. Technically it has been more than a day since representatives for the Swedish government openly criticized the EU Commission’s intentions to include nuclear power in the Green Taxonomy. It was actually last year, just before Christmas, that Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson was quoted saying that her government does not share the view that nuclear should be labelled a sustainable energy source.
But who’s counting?
Today, Max Elger, the Swedish Minister for Financial Markets, not only claims the government believes that nuclear power is sustainable in nature. He is also arguing that the EU is being too harsh by putting an end date on nuclear power’s green label, according to daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. “We are puzzled by the Commission’s proposed end date, and we believe that final repositories should be available when the need arises, and not on the first day of considering a nuclear investment,” he says.
Well, I am puzzled too, by the quick change of heart.
“The way in which the government expresses itself has changed – it is undeniably so – but I would not say with certainty that this corresponds to a shift on an ideological level,” claims the minister. I, for one, would beg to disagree. It feels like a proper Teutonic shift rather than just a linguistic one. Like claiming you are a vegetarian and complaining that your meat is not rare enough just the day after.
But then again, the energy question is complicated, as we have been arguing for a while here at NordSIP. Perhaps especially so up in the cold and energy-thirsty Nordics.
Image courtesy of Creative Commons / Ulrike Leone and Qubes Pictures from Pixabay / edited by NordSIP
