Press release
	15 March 2007	

>>Forwarding a press release of the German  
BÜNDNIS against EURATOM <<

Bundesweites Bündnis gegen EURATOM
c/o Stop Bure Gruppe Trier, c/o AGF, Pfuetzenstr.1, D- 54290 Trier, 
Tel. (+49) (0) 651 – 994 1017

"STOP EURATOM!"

Protest Action in front of the Atomium Monument in Brussels on 23rd March 2007on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the EURATOM treaty
 
Shortly before the official ceremonies concerning the 50th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome including the EURATOM treaty, on 23rd March 2007, a group of anti-nuclear initiatives from all over Germany is launching protests in front of the Atomium Monument in Brussels to demand an end of the EURATOM treaty.
 
Friday, March 23rd 2007, 11 a.m.
 
The EURATOM treaty which established the European Atomic Energy Community represents one of the founding treaties of the European Union and is unlimited. Its objectives are the promotion, coordination and control of research in the field of nuclear energy and of the nuclear energy sector of the member states.
"We demand an end to the anachronistic EURATOM treaty! No further EU subsidies for nuclear energy", says Markus Pflueger from the South-Western German anti-nuclear initiatives, one of the initiators of the protest action in Brussels. "Precisely now, since Germany is presiding the EU Council and at the same time will be hosting the G8 Summit, it is necessary to advocate for a real ecological turnaround of the energy system and to act against wars for resources", he continues.
 
On March 22nd, the anti-nuclear activists plan to attend a hearing on the EURATOM treaty in the European Parliament in Brussels. 
 
Ursula Schoenberger from the German “Schacht Konrad” working group is going to present her scientific study containing fundamental criticism of the EURATOM treaty. The independent Member of European Parliament Tobias Pflueger from the leftist group (GUE/NGL) who commissioned Ms. Schoenberger’s study will highlight connections between the neo-liberal European Constitution Treaty with its trend towards militarisation and the EURATOM treaty. 

Further speakers will be: Francis Althoff from the German citizen’s initiative Luechow-Dannenberg on the “European” permanent disposal of nuclear waste, and Vladimir Slivyak (Moscow) from the organisation Ecodefense Russia, as well as Matthias Eickhoff from the "Action Alliance Munsterland against nuclear power plants" who will describe the topic of nuclear waste transports across Europe and Uranium enrichment.

"Finally, the scandal must be made public that billions of euros from the taxpayers are being spent for the promotion of nuclear technology because of the EURATOM treaty, by-passing the European Parliament in a non-democratic way and ignoring the will of the majority of European citizens. All countries whose populations want to end nuclear energy, first of all Germany, must exit the EURATOM treaty! Instead, billions of euros could be spent on climate protection, energy saving programmes and renewable energy sources!", says Ursula Schoenberger, author of the critical study on EURATOM which is going to be presented for the first time in the European Parliament on March 22nd, 2007.
 
During their action of protest in front of the highly symbolic Atomium Monument, the anti-nuclear activists want to show their criticism: "50 years of promoting nuclear energy, billions of euros of subsidies for research and expansion of a non-controllable risk technology are enough! Uranium does not last forever, its mining is harmful for human beings and the environment, its transport is dangerous - and finally, there is no solution for the nuclear waste; plus a daily residual risk and the danger of nuclear arms proliferation!", Dietmar Seifert from the anti-nuclear initiative in Celle (Germany) adds.
 
Press contact for the protest action in Brussels:
Markus Pflueger (+49) (0)172 - 737 93 88