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ENERGY

Spain rejects EU’s ‘green’ label for nuclear and natural gas energy

The Spanish government has rejected the European Commission’s plans to include nuclear energy and natural gas in the EU’s classification table of green energies, arguing that it "makes no sense" and that it "sends the wrong message".  

nuclear plant spain
There are currently active five nuclear plants in Spain, and three more in the process of closing. Photo: INA FASSBENDER / AFP

The heads of Spain’s Ministry for Ecological Transition, its Labour Ministry and the Consumer Affairs Department have all voiced their opposition the EC’s plans of classifying nuclear and natural gas energy production as “green”. 

“Regardless of whether investments may continue to be made in nuclear energy or natural gas, we consider that they are not green or sustainable energies,” stressed Spain’s Minister for the Ecological Transition Teresa Ribera on Sunday.

According to her ministry, Spain is a “firm defender” of green taxonomy as a common framework across the bloc that can be used by investors to achieve the decarbonisation of the economy and help reach climate neutrality by 2050.

The European Commission describes its proposed “EU taxonomy” as a common classification system for sustainable economic activities, as part of its European Green Deal. 

READ MORE: EU moves to label nuclear and gas energy as ‘green’

“Adding nuclear and natural gas to the European green taxonomy would be a step backwards,” Ribera concluded.

“It makes no sense and sends the wrong messages for the energy transition of the whole of the EU.” 

Spain’s Ministry of Ecological Transition considers that the EU taxonomy system must be “credible, useful and based on scientific evidence”, and that for an economic activity to be green it must make a “substantial contribution to the main environmental goals of the EU, such as mitigating climate change”.

“Methane emissions from natural gas generation and the issue of nuclear energy waste call into question the inclusion of both activities within the EU’s green taxonomy,” the ministry added. 

“It’s the wrong message for financial markets and doesn’t provide the necessary clarity to focus capital flows towards a decarbonised, resilient and sustainable economy as envisaged in the European Green Deal”.

The European Commission quietly distributed the text to Member States late on Friday, in the final hours of 2021, after the proposal was twice delayed over the course of 2021.

Gas and nuclear energy would be labelled as green based on the argument that they’re “transitional” power generation activities, not fully sustainable but with emissions below average.

Germany, which has just closed down three of its last six nuclear plants, also opposed the EC’s proposal regarding nuclear energy, although it is in favour of some natural gas energy projects being classified as “green”.

Neighbouring Austria has taken it one step further and reiterated it will sue the European Commission over its plans to label nuclear energy as “green”. 

In Spain, there are currently five nuclear plants (seven reactors) in operation: Almaraz I and Almaraz II in the province of Cáceres, Ascó I and Ascó II in Tarragona, Cofrentes in Valencia, Trillo in Guadalajara and Vandellós in Tarragona. Three others have been shut down and are being dismantled.

There is also a nuclear fuel factory in Salamanca province and a small radioactive waste storage centre in El Cabril in Córdoba province. 

France has the highest number of nuclear plants of all EU nations with 56, and Macron’s government has announced plans to build more. 

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TERRORISM

Spain sees heightened terror risk amid global conflicts

Amid rising tensions and conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza and elsewhere around the world, a meeting by Spain's National Security Council has identified several threats to national security, some pre-existing and some new.

Spain sees heightened terror risk amid global conflicts

Global conflict and instability has raised the terror and security risk in Spain. This is what Spain’s National Security Council (CSN) has concluded following a meeting with government ministers on Tuesday to approve security reports and outline new anti-terror strategies. A 61-page document was compiled to replace the previous one approved in 2019 and will be valid for five years.

Among the topics discussed, which are outlined here on the National Security Council website, were the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine and the heightened security threats they pose to Spain.

The war in Gaza, the Council states, presents “a real and direct risk” of an increase in “the terrorist threat, violent extremism and the emergence of new movements that promote a radical and violent ideology.”

READ ALSO: Spain could enforce conscription of ordinary citizens if there is war

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the document stresses, is also “a potential catalyst for terrorism”, as it “has led to an increase in the circulation of arms and explosives [in Europe], as well as the participation in the war of volunteer fighters of other nationalities”.

These uncertain global conditions could be exploited by groups or individuals “to undermine public security”, the document adds, and suggests that “state actors could carry out terrorist actions,” in what appears to be an allusion to the assassination of a Russian soldier in Alicante earlier in the year.

READ ALSO: Mystery surrounds death of Russian helicopter deserter in Spain

The meeting and report also outlined broader “risks and threats to national security” grouped into 16 categories, some older and long-established, some much more modern. They range from terrorism and violent radicalisation to the effects of climate change, space vulnerability, cyberspace, organised crime, migratory flows, foreign espionage and interference from abroad.

The CSN detects growing dangers to Spanish airspace, namely “events of commercial satellite launches from aerial platforms crossing controlled airspace, events of re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere of satellite launcher debris, uncontrolled hot air balloon overflights and an increase in drone overflights over military bases,” things that have all been noted in Spain in recent years.

In terms of terrorism, despite the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine Islamic terrorism remains the greatest threat to Spanish security. “The repeated dismantling of the leaderships of Daesh and Al Qaeda has not succeeded in eliminating these groups, which act in a more decentralised manner than in previous years,” the report states.

During the period covered by the previous security strategy (2019-2023) “more than 110 [security] operations related to terrorism activities have been carried out,” more than 90 of which were linked to jihadist terrorism, the document details. Just 5 percent were linked to domestic terrorism.

Foreign spies operating in Spain were also highlighted as a threat. The CSN report stated that the decision to expel 27 Russian diplomats from Spain at the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was useful in this regard. “These expulsions significantly reduced their ability to operate on European territory, which led to a notable decrease in the rate of activity of foreign intelligence services in Spain,” the report states.

READ ALSO: Judge in Spain extends probe into Catalan separatist’s ‘Russia ties’

However, the potential threat from the Kremlin is again mentioned as the driving force behind the barrage of hoaxes and disinformation campaigns. In the case of Spain, Moscow reportedly “focuses on trying to spread a distorted image of migration in the Mediterranean and the situation in Ceuta and Melilla”.

But it’s not just the Russians attempting to misinform the public in Spain. The report also points to “official Chinese media and their propagandists on social networks in Spanish have amplified many pro-Russian narratives”, with messages “based on expressing a rejection of the US and the current international order”.

The report lists 83 Russian disinformation incidents and 12 Chinese in the last year alone. Among these, several were aimed at “creating mistrust” in Spain’s electoral processes.

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