Teresa Ribera faces nuclear hurdle to running EU green policy

That’s prompting worries among pro-atomic European Parliament members and EU countries that Spain’s top climate official could scupper plans to expand the buildout of nuclear power across the bloc just as the industry is riding a fresh wave of political momentum. France, where a hegemonic nuclear industry provides roughly 70 percent of the country’s electricity, is likeliest to cause a stir.

Those anxieties will likely play out on the public stage this fall, when Ribera is expected to face Parliament at her EU commissioner confirmation hearing. She’ll inevitably get pointed questions about whether she’d constrain a nuclear resurgence. And her answers could make or break her candidacy, as nuclear support unites politicians from numerous political families.

“In every political group, there are those that won’t vote for someone who’d be a vocal opponent of the nuclear cause,” said pro-nuclear French MEP Christophe Grudler, a member of the centrist Renew Europe group who could eventually be one of the lawmakers deciding Ribera’s fate.

“A Commissioner … is here to implement the Commission’s program — there’s no place for personal feelings,” he added. “She’ll have to just get on board … and I can assure you we’ll make sure she gets on board.”

A French government minister even conceded to POLITICO that his country — the EU’s most high-profile and vocal nuclear advocate — “is trying to ensure that energy does not go to someone anti-nuclear.”

Nuclear fallout

The race to become the EU’s next energy chief comes amid a new wave of excitement around nuclear, and at a critical moment for an industry that argues it’s long been forgotten in Brussels.