{"id":4345,"date":"2026-03-10T18:59:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T13:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/?p=4345"},"modified":"2026-03-10T19:02:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T13:32:16","slug":"europes-nuclear-retreat-was-a-strategic-mistake-says-eu-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/europes-nuclear-retreat-was-a-strategic-mistake-says-eu-chief\/4345\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe\u2019s nuclear retreat was a strategic mistake, says EU chief"},"content":{"rendered":"

Europe\u2019s long standing reduction in nuclear power capacity may have been a serious strategic miscalculation, according to Ursula von der Leyen<\/a>, President of the European Commission<\/a>. Speaking at a high level nuclear energy summit organised by the International Atomic Energy Agency<\/a> in Paris, the EU chief warned that the continent\u2019s retreat from nuclear energy has significantly increased its exposure to volatile fossil fuel markets during a period of intensifying geopolitical instability.<\/p>\n

Addressing policymakers and energy experts, von der Leyen emphasised that nuclear power once played a central role in Europe\u2019s electricity generation. In 1990, approximately one third of the continent\u2019s electricity supply was derived from nuclear sources. Today that figure has fallen sharply to roughly 15 percent. This structural shift, she suggested, has contributed to Europe\u2019s growing dependence on imported oil and gas at a time when global energy markets are under strain.<\/p>\n

According to the Commission President, reliance on costly and unpredictable fossil fuel imports places Europe at a strategic disadvantage compared with other regions that maintain stronger domestic energy capacity. She described the decision by several European governments to scale back nuclear generation as a policy choice that, in hindsight, has undermined the bloc\u2019s long term energy security.<\/p>\n

The most prominent example of this policy shift occurred in Germany, where former Chancellor Angela Merkel<\/a> initiated a nuclear phase out following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. Germany ultimately shut down its final nuclear reactor in 2023 amid widespread public concern about safety and environmental risks.<\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s energy vulnerability first became evident in 2022 after the disruption of inexpensive gas supplies from Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. The resulting price shocks exposed the fragility of the continent\u2019s energy supply chain.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, France continues to advocate a renewed commitment to nuclear power as a foundation for industrial competitiveness and low carbon electricity generation. President Emmanuel Macron<\/a> used the Paris summit to urge greater cooperation among European states in diversifying uranium supply sources and expanding enrichment capacity.<\/p>\n

Current figures indicate that Russia still provides roughly 15 percent of the uranium used within the European Union. In 2025 alone, France imported nearly 39 percent of its enriched uranium from Russia, highlighting ongoing supply vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n

Macron also proposed the standardisation of nuclear reactor designs across Europe, a measure that could strengthen the region\u2019s energy resilience while improving the competitiveness of European nuclear manufacturers such as EDF.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Europe\u2019s long standing reduction in nuclear power capacity may have been a serious strategic miscalculation, according to Ursula von der\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":442,"featured_media":4346,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[776,278,386,666,2059,642],"class_list":["post-4345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-european-union","category-news","tag-angela-merkel","tag-emmanuel-macron","tag-european-commission","tag-international-atomic-energy-agency","tag-international-atomic-energy-agency-in-paris","tag-ursula-von-der-leyen"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/442"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4345"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4349,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4345\/revisions\/4349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}