Europese tour tegen kernenergie 24 april - 23 mei

European Petition - 1 million Europeans demand the exit of nuclear power

Sign it NOW :

Almost 50 organisations and movements from some 20 European countries are on the Chernobyl Memorial day April 26th launching a European Campaign for collecting 1 million signatures against nuclear power.

For a period of maximum one year, the aim is to collect signatures and activate more organisations to join the campaign in order to convince all European countries to take the following measures without delay :

• to stop or prevent the construction of new nuclear power plants and facilities in the European Union,
• to launch a plan to abandon nuclear power within the European Union,
• to invest massively in energy saving and the development of renewable energies,
• to repeal the Euratom Treaty which massively supports nuclear power in Europe by means of public funding

Only these measures will make it possible to fight against nuclear danger and global warming at the same time.

Some of the organisations initiating the European ³1 million signature campaign² are taking part in the launching of the campaign in Helsinki in Finland on April 26th. The organisations will be received by different ministeries, there will be a press conference and a street action where speeches will be held and signatures will be collected. The organisations have also sent their complaints to the Finnish Ministry of Trade and Industry about the plans to build a 1 600 MW EPR nuclear power plant in Olkiluoto on the Finnish west coast. The EPR has not been built anywhere; it exists only on paper. It is a prototype that will be tested in Finland in spite of several warnings about severe safety deficits and too optimistic cost calculation and costruction schedule.

The organisations visited St. Petersburg during the weekend April 23rd ­ 25th in order to promote the signature campaign also in Russia, and in order to express deep worries about the plans of the Russian government :

• to prolong the utility permit of the oldest Chernobyl type reactor in the world at the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant in Sosnovy Bor
• to let the temporary nuclear waste storage of the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant - situated only 90 meters from the Baltic Sea coast and containing radioactivity corresponding to 40 ­ 50 Chernobyl accidents - continue its existence
• to let harbours in Ust-Luga and Vysotsk be used for transports of radioactive material.

The organisations taking part in the events in Helsinki and St.Petersburg are amongst others:

• Reseau ³Sortir du Nucléaire², a French anti-nuclear network of some 700 organisations. This network had launched on the 24th of April a one month anti-nuclear rally in France and this rally will cover 4 000 kilometres and some 50 cities and localities. During the rally signatures will be collected for the European petition, and protests will be made against any construction of new nuclear power plants in France.
• the German section of the IPPNW (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War). The IPPNW in Germany is heavily critisising the use of nuclear power as a source of material for producing nuclear weapons. IPPNW is organising a big conference against nuclear power in Berlin May 7th ­ 9th this year.
• the Austrian organisation Atomstopp International, one of the coordinators of the European 1 million signatures campaign. Also Atomstopp is organising a big conference against nuclear power next autumn.
• The World Information Service on Energy (WISE) sitauated in Holland, a large network of organisations against nuclear power and for the use of renewable energy sources.
• Aktionsbündnis CASTOR-Widerstand from Germany, having a long tradition of successful actions against nuclear transports in Germany.
• The German party Liberale Demokraten
• The Green Party of Sweden
• The Peoples Campaign against Nuclear Power/Nuclear Weapons from Sweden
• Women against nuclear power from Finland
• The No more nuclear power movement from Finland
• Women for Peace from Finland

This campaigning against nuclear power all over Europe is supported by a Youth action, an open-ended fast (hunger strike) for a Nuclear-Free France, starting on the 21st of June 2004.

A clear majority of the citizens of Europe are against the use of nuclear power for energy production. Of the current EU Member States (EU15) seven are not using nuclear power as and energy source. In addition five Member States have decided to give up the use of nuclear power. Amongst these is Spain where the new Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero reaffirmed the Spanish decision to phase-out nuclear power in a speech during his swearing-in ceremony in Madrid on April 15th.

Nuclear accidents do not respect geographical borders. An accident anywhere in Europe or the rest of the world can affect the lifes of millions of people living not only today but also in the far future.

Therefore organisations from all over Europe have joined forces to fight nuclear projects by democratic means.

WE DO NOT FIGHT INDIVIDUAL STATES OR ENERGY PRODUCERS, WE FIGHT AGAINST NUCLEAR POWER IN THE NAME OF THE MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE IN EUROPE!

Sign it NOW : www.atomstopp.com

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For further information:
Ulla Klotzer ­ Women against nuclear power, Finland: +358-50-569 09 67
Lea Launokari ­ Women for Peace, Finland: +358-50-55 22 330
Anna-Liisa Mattsoff - No more Nuclear Power movement, Finland: +358-50-468 2895
Jean-Yvon Landrac ­ Réseau 'Sortir du nucléaire': +33-699 562 967
Roland Egger ­ Atomstopp International: +43-664 421 5613
Lars Pohlmeier ­ IPPNW, German section: +49-171-416 0139
Maria Braig ­ Aktionsbündnis Castor-Widerstand: +49-160-957 109 99
Sten Danielsson ­ The Green Party of Sweden: + 46-70 362 3404

 
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