Title: The Euratom Community Treaty's prospects at the start of the new millennium

Authors: Christiane True

Addresses: Institute for International Law, University of Gottingen, Platz der Gottinger Sieben 5, Gottingen D-37073, Germany

Abstract: Which aspects of the Euratom Treaty might require reform in order to answer the challenges of the new Millennium? A call is made for the integration of the Euratom Treaty into a comprehensive European Union Treaty or Constitution encompassing all EU activities, making the promotion of nuclear technology a matter of enhanced cooperation, while preserving uniform radiation protection and safeguards standards. Provisions regarding nuclear safety and waste management standards should be added. Both enhanced cooperation and uniform standards should be guided by uniform constitutional principles, including democracy and the commitment to environmental protection. This would, on the one hand, preserve as much unity of EU and Euratom law as possible. On the other hand, it would allow Member States which have opted for the use of nuclear technology to pursue this within the common EU framework, and the others to terminate their involvement in the promotion of nuclear technology.

Keywords: Euratom Treaty; nuclear law; nuclear industry; promotion; legitimacy; democratic deficit; legislative; competences; internal market; state aid; competition rules; European Union; EU law; environmental protection; enhanced cooperation; nuclear technology; nuclear energy; nuclear power; nuclear safety; radiation protection; nuclear waste management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNUCL.2006.010727

International Journal of Nuclear Law, 2006 Vol.1 No.3, pp.247 - 260

Published online: 21 Aug 2006 *