The Mitsotakis government is proceeding with its secret plan to operate a Greek-funded nuclear plant in Bulgaria, the Greens-Ecology complain. And on the 38th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, they call on all political forces to reject the supposedly peaceful use of nuclear energy, which is neither safe, necessary, nor sustainable, but causes massive accidents and releases of deadly radioactivity, it strengthens the centralization of power and facilitates the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Regions of Northern Greece have already been asked to give a positive opinion on the Strategic Environmental Impact Study of the “Management of Bulgaria’s Spent Nuclear Fuel and Radioactive Waste” plan, which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been promoting since March 5. This project is being developed as an implementation of the agreements that the Greek government has started since 2022 with the Bulgarian government for indirect Greek financing of a new nuclear plant in Kozlodui, through guaranteed absorption of its electricity generation by our country for 30 years. Of course, there was a disagreement about the management of nuclear waste, which the Bulgarians refused to keep in their country, as revealed at an event of the Balkan Greens on 5.5.2022 by the then vice-president of the Bulgarian government.
In November 2023, Bulgaria joined the declaration of countries aiming to triple the global share of nuclear energy and is proceeding with the construction of units 7 and 8 at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant.
Although on 5.3.2024 the Ministry of the Interior set a deadline of 30 days for the consultation with the public, it did not take place and now an attempt is being made to approve it by the Regions mainly of Northern Greece. Recently the Region of the Ionian Islands postponed indefinitely its opinion on transboundary environmental impacts. The consent of the Regions is attempted to be intercepted away from the public and without informing the councilors. The alleged measures and figures are available only in English, in a volume exceeding 550 pages!
All this, in a context where the European Commission is proceeding with a “greenwashing” of nuclear, including them in the “green” forms of energy together with fossil gas, as supposed “alternative solutions” to deal with the climate crisis. Greece is not following the example of Germany, where last year the last nuclear plants were closed after decades of fighting by the German Greens, but it is flirting with the nuclear nightmare. And instead of pushing for a nuclear-free Balkans and Mediterranean, with policies for a safer, more peaceful and cleaner future, he is even talking to Erdogan, who in December suggested Mitsotakis sell Greece electricity from Turkey’s nuclear power plants and in fact the one he will build in Eastern Thrace, after the completion of the nuclear power plant in Akougiou, opposite Cyprus.
Radioactivity knows no borders! Kozlodui is only 350 kilometers in a straight line from Thessaloniki. The radioactivity released by Chernobyl was 200 times greater than the radioactivity released by the two atomic bombs of Nagasaki and Hiroshima combined.
The Greens will continue to fight in the European Parliament for a soft energy transition, autonomy and savings, the fight against energy poverty and the transition to renewable energy sources, while protecting biodiversity.
