The French government's decision to replace state-controlled Areva SA's (AREVA.FR) Chief Executive Anne Lauvergeon with her deputy is based on continuity, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday.
The French government's decision to replace state-controlled Areva SA's
(AREVA.FR) Chief Executive Anne Lauvergeon with her deputy is based on
continuity, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday.
"It's a choice of continuity. The credibility of the French nuclear
industry doesn't just rest on Areva alone," Sarkozy told journalists
during a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.
The two leaders met in Berlin Friday to discuss ways to devise a new aid
package for debt-ravaged Greece.
The French government Thursday said it was replacing Lauvergeon, the
long-standing chief executive of nuclear engineering giant Areva and one of
France
's
most high-profile women, with deputy CEO Luc Oursel.
Lauvergeon's contract was set to expire at the end of June.
The decision to reshuffle the management of Areva comes as the company and the
broader nuclear-power industry face growing public resistance in the wake of
the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, following the Japanese
earthquake in March.
While Sarkozy said he respected
Germany
's
decision to abandon nuclear power, he reiterated
France
's
commitment to nuclear energy, though he added that global safety standards in
the industry should be raised.
French nuclear plants are among the safest in the world, Sarkozy said.
Chancelor Angela Merkel, who shocked her European counterparts a few weeks ago
when she announced that
Germany
would
relinquish nuclear power and increase its reliance on renewable energies by
2022, said
Germany
's
decision shouldn't come as a complete surprise.
"It's something that we have already said we would do in the past... It
shouldn't be seen as a new unexpected burden for our European partners,"
she added.
Διαβάστε ακόμα
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:58
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:54
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:32
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:27
Τρι, 17 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 20:01