By IRNA
Berlin : Two leading lawmakers of the co-ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the opposition Free Democratic Party harshly criticized France’s planned nuclear cooperation with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Talking with Sunday’s edition of the Berlin-based Tagesspiegel newspaper, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee, Ruprecht Polenz said, “I am very irritated that France wants to press ahead with the expansion of civilian atomic energy in the (Persian Gulf) region.”
Early this week, French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE where he signed a civilian nuclear accord with Abu Dhabi.
Polenz lambasted Sarkozy’s nuclear proliferation plans, while urging a “united policy” of European Union states in the Persian Gulf region.
The remarks of the CDU legislator were echoed by Werner Hoyer of the liberal Free Democrats who pointed to previous French nuclear agreements with oil-rich Arab countries like Libya and Algeria.
Branding French atomic technology exports to the Arab world as “Sarkozy’s nuclear roadshow”, Hoyer stressed that this policy did not correspond with the “image of a responsible export policy which always keeps an eye on the proliferation risk.”
Last summer, the German government had lashed out at the controversial French-Libyan nuclear deal, saying it was aimed against German interests.