A renewable energy group said it was "deeply worried" about the
neutrality of the European Commission when it comes to nuclear power. The
European Renewable Energies Federation, or EREF, was reacting September 26 to
a September 25 EC decision. The EC decision was that there was no illegal
state aid involved in the 570-million-euro (US$805 million) export credit
guarantee from French export credit agency Coface to French nuclear vendor
Areva for the Olkiluoto-3 reactor under construction in Finland. EREF
President Peter Danielsson said the EC had turned its back on its own policies
and past practices with regard to export guarantees in intra-community EU
trade, "for the sake of shielding nuclear from competitive market conditions
and in order to fence out non EU competitors. EREF will evaluate the Coface
decision once the whole document is available and see what next legal steps
should be taken."