Ok, it’s time that I posted something. My extended absence from posting here can be explained by my recently moving house, but it isn’t a good excuse any more. Anyway, reading EurActiv over breakfast this morning, I had a look at their LinksDossier on the Swedish presidency of the EU. After the joke that was the Czech presidency (sorry to any Czechs reading this, it isn’t personal), it was refreshing to see the programme that Sweden has lined up for their six months at the helm. While an “effective, open and results-oriented presidency” sounds a bit too much like management speak to me, it’ still something worth pursuing, while the commitment to ratifying the Lisbon Treaty and the ambition to push Europe forward on actions against climate change are both things which I’d tentatively support (tentatively, as I haven’t had time to look through anything in much more detail than the LinksDossier).

Even if they can’t succeed with all of their programme, as the Centre for European Reform mentions, “Internal political stability and a skilled diplomatic corps should help.”, so I doubt another Czech-style presidency will be seen just yet (again, sorry to any Czech readers).

But it is the risk that the presidency could go wrong again so easily, and the inherent instability that comes from a six-month rotating presidency that just makes such a good argument for a static president with a political mandate. All eyes should be on Ireland to see whether that can happen.

I blame Russia. Poland has joined the ranks of European states planning to expand nuclear power (Bulgaria is planning to reopen closed stations, Sweden has just reversed a ban on nuclear, and Britain is committing to new stations in England). This is crazy for reasons that all environmentalists will know. They can’t be brought online in time to solve the energy gap from declining fossil fuels; they create insanely hazardous and difficult to store waste; Uranium is a finite resource; and they are far from being carbon neutral (how are they built, how is fuel transported to them &c.). The problem is, they’re a pre-existing technology, that is seen as “tried and tested”. Why’d anyone want to develop the mix of renewables and energy efficiency when you can just build nuclear?

The problem just now, and the reason I blamed Russia at the start of this post, is that at least two of the recent re-commitments to nuclear aren’t motivated by environmental concern, rather they are motivated by a well founded fear of energy security. In the UK, we might feel as if we’re suffering if energy bills go up as a result of instability in supplies. Try Bulgaria, where gas was cut, in midwinter, by the Russia-Ukraine dispute. Thousands of people simply didn’t have heating.

The temptation to run back to the gleaming nuclear future is just too easy to give into. And I’d venture a guess that more states will envisage that future, so long as Europe is reliant on gas, and thus Russia. In the long term, Azerbaijan can’t meet Europe’s gas demand, so while the Nabucco pipeline will diversify supply, we’re still getting our bulk of gas from Russia. The Nord Stream and South Stream pipelines still leave us beholden to Russia, not to mention the potential for widespread environmental damage from these projects, Nord Stream in particular.

In grasping at nuclear, Bulgaria and Poland have almost got the right answer to energy security, but they miss out environmental concerns completely. Yes, we need to have a more diverse energy supply to avoid reliance on one potentially hostile state, but the only solution which can be sustained in the long term is a renewables mix and reducing our demand.

North America

The Montreal Gazette is reporting that the Greens of Canada are considering using the courts to have their Party leader, Elizabeth May, included in televised debates for Federal elections. This comes at the same time as the Green Party in the US attempts to have presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney treated as a realistic candidate by the media and the two main parties, and also seeks a viable voter demographic.

Europe

Bulgaria is charging ahead to a brilliant atomic future with the construction of a second nuclear power plant in Belene. The project has strong backing from the European Commission, as part of a move to “low carbon” energy systems.

The European Parliament has supported the introduction of a mandatory organic label for produce sold within the Union. The initiative still has to gain support from the Council of Ministers, and it may be worth hiring a marketing agency before putting out any more radio ads. Have a listen.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The EP has also supported the EC’s plans to promote development of hydrogen cars, but has called for a network of hydrogen filling stations to be established across Europe.

In Sweden, the Green party, Miljöpartiet, is reconsidering its approach to the EU, with the possibility of dropping a section of their manifesto which calls for Sweden’s withdrawal from the Union. This follows from calls by the leader of Vänsterpartiet for green and left party co-operation in the 2010 general election.

There is a possibility that Serbia may be granted EU candidate status in 2009, if it catches war-crimes suspects and continues reforms.

Europe & Russia

Recent events in Georgia have led European media to widely discuss the possibility of a second Cold War. Café Babel has an interview with Georgi Khaidrava, a former minister in the Georgian government. The Euranet radio partnership also covers the similarities of the present situation to Cold War rhetoric. Euractiv also carries an interview with Andrew Stroehlein, of the International Crisis Group.

Regional News

Turkey

Turkish police are reported to have used oppressive tactics against a legal environmental gathering, Ecotopia.

Sweden

The leader of Vänsterpartiet has called for co-operation between his party and the Greens and Socialdemokraterna (Social Democrats) in the run-up to the 2010 election, with the possibility of an alliance.

Germany

Electricity companies, RWE and E.ON are lobbying the government to cancel its planned phase-out of nuclear power.

Baltic Sea Region

Baltic states have been criticised in a report by WWF for failing to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea.

Global

United Nations climate talks are underway in Accra, Ghana. Friends of the Earth International has warned of flaws in the carbon trading system, and of the risk of land-rights abuses from the inclusion of forests in carbon markets. The UN has stated that “modest progress” has been made in the talks.

And Finally…

An elderly woman is reported to have placed herself on the luggage belt at Stockholm Airport, believing she was correctly checking in to her flight. It is not reported if she was flying Ryanair, in which case, she may have been right.