Anti-nuclear lobbying by German foundations in France and Poland
11.7.2023
Question for written answer E-002175/2023
to the Commission
Rule 138
Kosma Złotowski (ECR)
According to a report by the French School of Economic Warfare, Germany is spending millions on measures targeting France’s nuclear industry. The Heinrich Böll and Rosa Luxemburg foundations, which are financed by the federal government, are seeking to slow down or hinder the development of nuclear energy in France by means of publications, scholarships, training courses and meetings with politicians and opinion formers[1].
The aim of this campaign is to make the French economy less competitive by depriving it of cheap and stable energy. The German foundations’ activities are also undermining the interests of other countries, including Poland, which are relying on nuclear power for the energy transition.
- 1.The EU is still facing an energy crisis and Germany, having shut down its nuclear power plants, is having to bail itself out by importing energy from France, where nuclear power forms the basis of the energy mix[2]. With that in mind, does anti-nuclear lobbying not pose a threat to the EU’s energy security, and are Germany’s efforts to undermine other Member States’ energy and industrial competitiveness consistent with the EU’s operating principles?
- 2.According to the report’s authors, the foundations concerned have also destabilised the French nuclear industry by influencing the European institutions. Has the Commission ever cooperated with these foundations in shaping the EU’s energy and environment policy, or has it provided them with any funding?
- 3.The Heinrich Böll Foundation is also active in Poland and has criticised plans to develop nuclear energy. Is the Commission conducting – or is it intending to conduct – campaigns to counter the false claims about nuclear energy being peddled by German state-funded foundations?
Submitted: 11.7.2023