Ho hum, it’ll be interesting to see what happens tomorrow.

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.

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.

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.