France suffered a bitter setback on Monday by being excluded from the meeting of “Friends of Renewable”, organized by the European Union and in which ministers from 14 EU countries took part, reports the media “ EURACTIV”.
The exclusion of France from this meeting, held ahead of a meeting of the 27 EU energy ministers in Luxembourg, is explained by the fact that Paris has delayed the adoption of the directive of the EU on renewable energies, indicates the same source, quoting a European diplomat.
Ministers from 14 countries (Luxembourg, Austria, Spain, Greece, Malta, Denmark, Estonia, Portugal, the Netherlands, Germany, Latvia, Slovenia, Ireland and Belgium) were present alongside the European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson. However, while France had expressed its intention to join the group, it did not receive an invitation to this meeting, the media noted.
“Obviously we welcome anyone who really supports renewable energy and who takes the deployment of renewable energy seriously,” a European diplomat told EURACTIV. But, “after delaying the renewable energy directive, France was not invited to today’s meeting,” he added.
France, backed by other pro-nuclear member states, blocked the adoption of the new EU Renewables Directive (RED) last month, fearing that the rules on renewable hydrogen could harm the production of renewables. low-carbon hydrogen from nuclear energy, the media recalls, adding that the agreement on the new directive was unblocked on June 16 after Paris obtained additional guarantees on nuclear as well as on production ammonia derived from low carbon hydrogen.
“France’s blocking of RED was negligent,” given the rapid deployment of renewables, said Austrian Minister Leonore Gewessler, at the initiative of the “Friends of Renewable” group, as quoted by ‘EURACTIV’
According to her, the French blockage, even though a political agreement had been reached with the European Parliament and the European Commission, has shaken the “foundations of the EU”, she declared on Monday morning.
According to the French media “Le Courier du Soir”, this is bad news for Emmanuel Macron which could trigger the immense anger of defenders of the ecological cause.