Nuclear Schulz

Martin Schulz, the chairman of the Socialist group in the European Parliament, was re-appointed to the German Social Democrats' (SPD) decision-making structures at the party conference in Hamburg at the end of last month. The same party rally set out the SPD's policy priorities, confirming its entrenched opposition to the use of nuclear energy. An SPD-Green government decided in 2000 to close down all nuclear plants in Germany and the Social Democrats convinced the Christian Democrats to include the nuclear phase out in their current coalition agreement.
But Schulz would have been less popular within his party had his real attitude towards nukes been known. Just days before the party rally, Schulz backed in Strasbourg a European Parliament resolution clearly supporting the use of nuclear energy as part of member states' energy mix. Entre Nous discovered that Schulz, together with seven other SPD MEPs, voted on 24 October in favour of the Reul report on conventi-onal energy sources, which claims that “the successful reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector can only be achieved on the basis of increased use of low carbon technologies such as nuclear energy, clean coal and renewables” and “emphasises that nuclear energy is indispensable if basic energy needs are to be met in Europe in the medium term”.