Four EU countries insist on sanctions against nuclear power

Poland and the Baltic states have proposed to include Russia's nuclear energy sector in the 11th EU sanctions package.

According to RMF FM, which has a document dated March 30 with relevant proposals to the EU countries.

The document proposes individual sanctions for members of the Rosatom board, a ban on new contracts with the company, a ban on investments in the Russian nuclear sector, and a ban on imports of Russian-enriched uranium.

The four countries that have been calling for sanctions against Rosatom for months, trying to convince other countries of their case, this time offer a number of exceptions and transitional periods.

For example, the termination of "transactions, contracts, and other agreements" with Rosatom will be gradual, but not longer than two years.

Instead, Hungary will be granted a nine-year transition period to complete the construction of the Paks nuclear power plant using Russian technology.

The authors of the document argue that the European Union countries have recently been refusing to cooperate with Russia in the nuclear sphere anyway. They cite the example of the Czech Republic, which last March did not allow Rosatom to participate in a tender for the construction of a new nuclear power plant. They also mention Finland, which in May of the same year refused to cooperate with the Russian agency on the construction of a nuclear reactor.

However, as Polish journalists point out, it will be very difficult to get the consent of the entire European Union on this issue.

Hungary and France, as well as Bulgaria, which is heavily dependent on Russian technology or, like France, do not want to give up cooperation in this area, have repeatedly expressed their disagreement.

Author - Olena Madiak, 07/04/2023