Spain

German Jimanez from Sivilla in Spain presents the attitudes of the three most important political parties in Spain; the Social-Democratic Party (PSOE), the Conservative Party (PP) and the left-wing Green Party (IU-los Verdes). Additionally we get information about the National Security Council “CSN”.

The three most important political parties in Spain: PSOE (social-democratic party), PP (conservative party), IU-los Verdes (left wing – green party), deal with the Nuclear and Energy issues from different perspectives according to their ideologies, which are in their 2008 electoral programs.

The debate about nuclear energy gained importance in Spain after the beginning of the economic crisis and it’s currently having a new impulse after the nuclear accident in Japan:
In 2009 the social democratic government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (PSOE), contradicted its political program when, in its New Sustainable Economy Law, it accepted the extension of time an NPP was supposed to be active (40 years in the first nuclear program), depending on their situations at this time.
This political debate became more controversial and had a different social and media projection after the catastrophe in Japan; and the different political parties’, NGO’s and energy institution’s views got radicalised.

Before the analysis of how those three political parties approach the Nuclear energy issue, it’s important to clarify the current Spanish energy context, where the international energy dependence represents an 80% of the total energy production and where there are only eight NPPs, because of the nuclear moratorium decreed in the 90’s.

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