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| Europe |
| Germany powerless over nuke sale, says Schroeder |
| 2003-12-09 |
| German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has insisted that the government could not refuse the sale of a German nuclear fuel-rod plant to China, despite criticism from within the coalition. Schroeder told Germany’s ZDF television the government could not stop the sale by engineering group Siemens of the mothballed factory at Hanau near Frankfurt. "We have known in the government for a long time that we would have to fulfil this legal claim," he said. Siemens had a legal right to approval for the sale as the plant - designed to produce a mixed oxide of uranium and plutonium for nuclear power stations - could not be used for a military application, he said. "In this question we have, in my view, no political possibility of making a decision." The planned sale is threatening to cause a rift in the coalition of Schroeder’s Social Democrats and anti-nuclear Greens, who have called for coalition talks on the issue. Schroeder met Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in what the newspaper Bild am Sonntag described as an attempt to ward off a coalition crisis. Handelsblatt newspaper reports Monday edition that the meeting led to a row between the two, with Fischer accusing Schroeder of a "communications disaster", and Schroeder blaming Fischer for not doing enough to prevent the criticism from the Greens. Snicker. I’m not crazy about Germany selling nuclear anything to China, but I like seeing Schroeder taking heat from the Greens... |
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #3 Thanks Steve, alive and kicking! |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-12-9 3:59:15 PM |
| #2 TGA! Welcome back! |
| Posted by: Steve White 2003-12-9 3:51:23 PM |
| #1 Old news. The Greens reached a compromise with the SPD: Germany will only export the plant if China agrees to international supervision by the IAEO... Read... if hell freezes over... The Greens are not amused though nontheless. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-12-9 1:16:40 PM |