Berlin - The European Union's new Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger on Sunday rejected reports that he would pursue a pro-nuclear agenda. As premier of Germany's powerful state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Oettinger has been an advocate of keeping nuclear power plants in use.
In an interview to appear Monday in the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, he said, "I don't intend to travel around the member countries recommending to them they use nuclear power.
I will be accepting the decisions of the member nations and using these as the building blocks for European energy policy."
He said he would not be campaigning for nuclear power, but would advocate an "energy mix" that enabled the EU to be as self-sufficient as possible." Oettinger was awarded the energy portfolio last week.
