Europe’s dash to scrap its nuclear power plants was a ‘mistake’, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen admitted on Tuesday, as green-obsessed EU governments face rising energy bills.
Speaking at the Nuclear Energy Summit in Paris, von der Leyen said that Europe produced around a third of electricity from nuclear power in 1990 but that has fallen to 15%, leaving it reliant on oil and gas imports whose prices have surged in recent days.
Being ‘completely dependent on expensive and volatile imports’ of fossil fuels puts Europe at a disadvantage to other regions, von der Leyen said.
Germany took a political decision under then-Chancellor Angela Merkel to phase out nuclear power plants owing to public opposition and safety concerns after the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
Von der Leyen, who was ironically a minister in Merkel’s government when that decision was made, added: ‘This reduction in the share of nuclear was a choice. I believe that it was a strategic mistake for Europe to turn its back on a reliable, affordable source of low-emissions power.’
Meanwhile, Germany’s centre-left Environment Minister Carsten Schneider on Tuesday criticised von der Leyen’s ‘backward-looking strategy’ on nuclear power.
‘Cleaner, safer electricity from wind and sun is cheaper, has long been driving the energy transition, and produces no radioactive waste,’ Schneider said in a statement.
The EU has rapidly expanded renewable energy, but gas power plants still form an important part of its power mix, and fossil fuels still dominate energy consumption in sectors such as transport and heating.
Emmanuel Macron, Ursula von der Leyen and Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) pose during the Nuclear Energy Summit
A decommissioned nuclear power plant in Gundremmingen, southern Germany
The continued heavy reliance on imported oil and gas exposed European countries to soaring energy prices in 2022, when Russia cut gas deliveries after the invasion of Ukraine.
The EU budget does not directly fund nuclear energy projects because they are not unanimously supported by its 27 member governments.
In a sign of the EU’s increasing acceptance of the technology, von der Leyen said the executive Commission would offer a 200-million-euro guarantee for private investments in innovative nuclear technologies.
She said the money would come from the EU’s carbon market.
Some EU countries which previously opposed nuclear, such as Denmark and the Netherlands, have recently softened their stance, as they hunt for ways to secure large amounts of stable, low-carbon electricity for heavy industry.
Others, including Austria and Luxembourg, remain opposed.
Meanwhile Spain, whose green-obsessed government is rushing to close its remaining plants, saw an increase in their use during the massive blackout across the country last spring.
France, Europe’s biggest nuclear energy producer, argues that stable, low-carbon power from nuclear plants is key to industrial competitiveness.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the EU – where nuclear power producers still imported 15% of their uranium from Russia in 2024 – needed to move towards other suppliers.
‘We need to cooperate internationally to make progress on this issue, to diversify our supply sources,’ he told the Paris event, adding that France planned to increase its own enrichment capacity.
France imported 39% of its enriched uranium from Russia in 2025, customs data showed.
Macron also proposed standardising reactor designs across Europe. That could benefit France’s state-owned nuclear giant EDF, which has struggled to win recent tenders for new projects.
He added: ‘Nuclear power is key to reconciling both independence — and thus energy sovereignty — with decarbonization, and thus carbon neutrality… We can see it in our current geopolitical context: when we are too dependent on hydrocarbons, they can become a tool of pressure, or even of destabilization.’
In 2024 South Korea’s KHNP won a tender worth at least $18 billion to build a new nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic, a decision which losing bidder EDF sought to block in the courts.
Wind turbines are seen outside the village of Neuhardenberg, north eastern Germany
Jordan Bardella, Marie Le Pen’s deputy, decried Germany’s approach to nuclear energy, calling it a ‘historic blunder.’
‘For years, we have fought to ensure that nuclear energy holds a place of honor… against the obscurantism of so-called environmentalists and the dogmatism of the European Commission, which has driven the reduction of nuclear’s share in Europe,’ he said.
‘Ursula von der Leyen now acknowledges that this was a “strategic error.” In reality, it was more than that: it was a historic blunder that has cost our continent precious time, harmed the competitiveness of its businesses, and eroded the purchasing power of its citizens.’
The National Rally politician added that von der Leyen’s admission should be accompanied by a rethinking of European energy market rules.
This comes as Macron will convene a call with leaders of the Group of Seven on Wednesday to discuss the Iran crisis and rising energy prices
G7 energy ministers stopped short of agreeing on a release of strategic oil reserves on Tuesday and instead asked the International Energy Agency to assess the situation before acting.
Benchmark oil prices surged to almost four-year highs on Monday but prices plummeted 11% on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump predicted the war in the Middle East could end soon.
Meanwhile, a rise in energy prices from the war and American ‘erratic’ trade policies are expected to dampen Germany’s economic recovery only slightly this year, Germany economic research institute DIW said on Wednesday.
The institute, one of Germany’s main economic forecasters, expects the country’s gross domestic product to increase by 1% this year and by 1.4% in 2027, after 0.2% growth in 2025.