Austria demands to the UK for the nuclear industry subsidies

Austria announced Monday that it has filed a complaint with the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) against plans by the Government of the United Kingdom to grant public subsidies to the nuclear industry.

The Federal Chancellor of Austria, Werner Faymann Social Democrat, said that only "modern and new" technologies should be supported, "is the general interest of all EU states".

"That does not happen in any way in the case of nuclear energy", he added the head of the Austrian Government in a statement.

Specifically, London wants to support the expansion of the plant Hinkley Point C by insured credit guarantees and compensation in the case of early closure of the plant energy prices.

The Austrian Government considers that only alternative energy forms should be supported in Europe but not the atomic energy. "Nuclear power plants are dangerous, expensive and compared to future technologies such as wind, water and solar energy, are neither economically nor ecologically competitive ", concluded Faymann in his statement.

The European Commission was given on 8 October its approval to the British state aid for Hinkley Point C, which was heavily criticized by Austria.

The Alpine republic is one of the few European countries that has never had a nuclear power plant in operation. In the 70s of last century, Austria built a nuclear power plant in Zwentendorf, 60 kilometers west of Vienna, but in 1979 the Austrian population rejected their implementation in a referendum. Since there is a broad political and social consensus in Austria against atomic energy.