Austria wants to challenge the plans criticized by Germany to support nuclear and gas-fired power plants in the EU through Union funds if necessary.

Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) confirmed this on Monday on Austrian radio.

The classification of gas and nuclear energy as climate-friendly under certain conditions is "not acceptable".

Andreas Mihm

Business correspondent for Austria, East-Central and Southeastern Europe and Turkey based in Vienna.

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Shortly after the EU plan became known on late New Year's Eve, she tweeted: “We will examine the present draft carefully and have already commissioned a legal opinion on nuclear power in the #Taxonomy. If these plans are implemented in this way, we will sue. Because #atomic power is dangerous and not a solution in the fight against the #climate crisis. "

Gewessler can be sure of the support of Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP).

He had recently voted against the plans at the EU Council of Heads of State and Government, albeit in vain.

All of Austria's neighbors, with the exception of Italy, generate electricity from nuclear energy.

And no matter how much Austria's eastern neighbors - Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Slovenes - are convinced of the indispensable importance of nuclear energy regardless of government colors, Austrians strictly reject this form of electricity generation.

Much of the electricity comes from hydropower

In 1978, a narrow majority of Austrians voted against the commissioning of the completed Zwentendorf nuclear power plant in the country's first referendum. As a result, the construction of nuclear power plants in the country was ruled out by the legislature. The decision was easy because even then the majority of electricity generation was based on hydropower, which it still does to 60 percent today. 15 percent come from other renewable sources (wind, sun, geothermal energy), a quarter from gas power plants.

The country wants to have switched completely to green electricity by 2030.

But that only applies to the balance sheet over the year.

However, since electricity should always be available, it does not depend on the annual, but the minute availability.

For this, Austria is and remains dependent on its neighbors for intra-European exchanges and thus also on electricity that comes from coal, gas or nuclear power plants.

Some therefore criticize the official political anti-nuclear position as hypocritical.

Germany and Spain as comrades-in-arms

However, this does not change the vehemence with which Austria is primarily campaigning against the use of nuclear energy - even if it is with the resources of the financial market. Gewessler emphasizes that the classification scheme (taxonomy) chosen by the EU Commission for the forms of energy serves as a label for financial products such as investment funds. The financial market plays a major role for investments in “technologies that are sure to protect the environment and the climate”. That's why you need a credible label that investors can rely on. Without prejudice to this, each country can decide its future energy policy for itself, she stressed.

The EU states now have until January 12 to comment on the plans.

Gewessler sees Germany and Spain as supporters of her project.

The German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said, according to the agency, that Berlin is not thinking about a lawsuit.

In any case, this could not relate to the content of the proposals, but only to the question of whether the EU Commission was authorized to submit a proposal on taxonomy.