The European Green Deal commission is selecting which energy sources can get big state subsidies. But Green Deal boss Frans Timmermans did not like nuclear energy, and believed some pretty crazy things about it, saying that nuclear “is based on fossil fuels” and so on.

But now he’s gone. He’s off to run on a Green Party coalition ticket in the Dutch elections.

The fact that he appeared to understand little or nothing about energy would’ve been considered a major advantage in being selected to run the EU’s energy investment policy prior to 2022.

Back then, European energy policy was super easy. It was based on vibes and stale 1970s Green memes. No particular education or experience is needed to work with vibes and stale memes.

Before 2021, almost everyone, including, incredibly, France, agreed that nuclear wasn’t a major player in the future of European clean energy.

But suddenly in late 2021 and into 2022 energy mattered again! That’s because the easy times stopped with the post-covid fossil fuel shortage, nuclear closures, and the accompanying outbreak of major war in Ukraine. The EU realized it had to get serious about energy.

Enter Slovakia’s Maroš Šefčovič. Slovakia has been running a succesful SMR (small modular reactor) program for decades, getting much of its national power from operating sets of SMRs exactly the same size as Rolls Royce is proposing to build in the UK.

Slovakia and its neighbor Czechia work together to build the SMR reactors themselves, with SkodaGroupEN executing the projects and providing the reactor parts.

Maroš Šefčovič has indicated that no credible energy policy in Europe can fight emissions without nuclear.

Indeed, he’s only been a few weeks on the job and already European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has stated that nuclear is under consideration as a “strategic technology” eligible for national subsidization.

Nuclear had previously been excluded from that list under Timmermans.

As countries in Europe without nuclear get weaker, like Germany with its shrinking economy after nuclear closures, they’ll lose their ability to keep hurting nuclear through policy.

Meanwhile, nuclear countries will pool their collective strength to bend EU policy towards nuclear.

That’s exactly what’s hapening with this replacement of EU Green Deal leadership, and it’s why large, state-backed nuclear projects will launch across Europe in coming years.

Vir: Mark Nelson