Europe split on atoms?

Split on nuclear power threatens agreement on global warming
| "Split on nuclear power threatens agreement on global warming


David Gow and Ian Traynor
Friday March 9, 2007
The Guardian

A worker at the nuclear reactor factory in Chalon-sur-Saone, France. Nearly 80% of France’s power comes from nuclear plants.
A worker at the nuclear reactor factory in Chalon-sur-Saone, France. Nearly 80% of France’s power comes from nuclear plants. Photograph: Jacques Brinon/AP


Divisions over nuclear power and renewable energy threatened to derail the EU's campaign to assume a global leadership role in the fight against climate change at the bloc's spring summit which began last night. Warning that 'it is closer to five past midnight than five to midnight' for international measures to combat global warming, Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel, chairing the meeting, urged EU leaders to 'deliver results for our grandchildren' by making Europe the world's first low-carbon economy via a unilateral 20% cut in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020."