Luca Romano & Salvo Trotta - Italy
Transcript (download)
I came all the way here from the city of Torino (Turijn). We chose the green record. My city is the most polluted city on this continent. I wish it was radioactive pollution so at least someone would care and do something about it.
I can only be sad to see that Germany and Belgium are locked on the same path that lead my city to this situation, by killing a vital source of clean energy and replacing it with polluting and climate-alterating [sic] fossil fuels.
I’ll be now addressing directly the European commission and the Belgian government.
The numbers of nuclear powers are clear: it is safe, it is clean, it is reliable. There is no possible way you can justify your choices but one: all you can say is “this is what people want”. However, this is not how a representative democracy is supposed to work. You are supposed to step up to your role and act in the best interest of your people. Not just to blindly follow polls.
You are now facing a choice. If you lead things unfold like they are currently are set to, you will end up with more poverty, more pollution and more death.
You may eventually win your next election, but history will judge you.
On the other hand, you can step up to your role, you can reverse Belgium’s nuclear phase out policy and you can include nuclear in the European taxonomy for sustainable finance.
But you have to act as your role demands. You have to be political leaders and not political followers.
Thank you very much.
Hello guys, my name is Salvo;
I’m a member of Comitato Nucleare e Ragione we represent the most active pro-nuclear association in Italy and we organize our national standup.
As you probably already know, nuclear energy was banned in Italy, with two referendums. The first one in 1987 , one year after the Tsjernobyl-incident. The second one in 2011, three months after the Fukushima-accident. What a weird coincidence, isn’t it?
The fact of this decisions is that more of 70% of the energy is imported. The main source of electricity is natural gas, imported as well.
Anyway, I don’t want to bother you with environmental and geopolitical long discussions. We know of the dependency for oil and gas from countries like Russia, like Libya, like Turkey, but it is clear that Italian politicians are more interested in addressing the next election instead of planning the long term period. But fortunately, our recent declaration of minister of ecological transitions, Mr. Cingolani, affirmed that radical chic—I mean naive—environmentalists is [sic] more dangerous than climate change itself and added that it would be foolish to not consider nuclear technology in the future. Although we know the path will be very long, if ever possible.
Recently our association commissioned a survey with results that say half of Italia [sic] will tell not to exclude categorically the nuclear technology and ten years later, probably, we can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Anyway, here I want to feel with you, my Belgian friends and international guests, that you don’t have to end up like Italy, wasting ten years or more—precious time!—to start again the plan for a real and sustainable decarbonization.
This is our duty as the next generation of European citizens, and it is our duty as the keepers of the future of the next generation of human beings.
Thank you very much! Grazie a tutti! [translation: Thanks, everyone]