A proposed taxpayer subsidy of more than a billion pounds to two new nuclear power stations at Hinkley Point in Somerset would be illegal under EU law, according to London Green MEP Jean Lambert.
Adding her name to a submission made by scientists from University College London, Ms Lambert said the payment would distort the European energy sector and make it harder to invest in cleaner, safer, renewable energy in future.
“The proposed subsidy would breach EU law,” she said, “and, as governments around the world are realising in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, would be promoting a dirty, unsafe energy technology at the expense of the renewable and community-level solutions we need to combat climate change and keep the lights on.”
Ms Lambert made her comments as more than 100 academics and politicians of all parties – including a number of Greens - responded to a European Commission consultation on the proposed funding of new nuclear power stations in the UK.