Garching, Bavaria, 11 April 2024
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Minister-President, dear Markus,
Professor Günter,
Thank you very much for the invitation. That was an impressive presentation and visit here for me. I will take much back to the European level.
We will indeed need a lot more energy in the future. We need it to be clean and we need it to be safe, and nuclear fusion can provide that. So we need to invest in this and, above all, to advance the research. Fusion energy is assuredly one of the most complex scientific and technical tasks that science has ever faced. Europe is a global leader in nuclear fusion research. We want to keep this leadership position. Bavaria is undoubtedly leading the way within Europe. So congratulations on that. And I know too that this has been supported by decades of systematic support, that is, a very clear commitment to stay on the ball and drive the matter forward.
As difficult this technology is, its potential is huge. Nuclear fusion is safe. It is a clean source of energy. It would be an ideal complement to renewable energy in the energy mix in the future. And you, Professor Günter, have shown very impressively how much progress has been made in recent times and how close the breakthrough is, although you are still counting in years and decades rather than days or months. Nevertheless, the progress is encouraging.
But of course it is also clear that progress that is encouraging does not mean that we have reached the goal. In other words, there is still a good way to go. And we need everyone on board for this. To achieve this goal, we now need to invest more in this research. The European Union supports nuclear fusion through our Euratom research and training programme. We are contributing to advancing nuclear fusion, mainly through the European ITER programme, to which the European Union is the main contributor, with €5.6 billion earmarked for this in the current EU budget. This is an ambitious international fusion research project. This is precisely the basis on which we can build.
However– as we discussed this morning – in addition to what is already well underway, we still need to significantly improve the framework conditions so that we can become faster and more effective. We need to promote more public-private research partnerships. This morning I met young tech companies that are helping to fill further gaps in the technology. We need to invest a lot more here. Secondly, we also need to encourage industry to invest, as it is already doing, but to invest even more in fusion technology. It would itself be one of the main beneficiaries. I know that at European level we need to advance the Capital Markets Union, which makes it possible for these young companies to find the capital they need here in Europe to grow. When we have deepened and completed the Capital Markets Union, there will be €500 billion more in investment opportunities per year. So there is a clear need, for us politicians too, to move forward faster.
And the third point is that there are a huge number of positive spill-over effects from nuclear fusion research. Products in the health sector, in the space sector or robotics, occasioned to a certain extent by research, but which can also be widely used within the European Union to create new industries. Fusion research, such as that we have here in Garching, does not just benefit our future energy mix. It does not just create new products, but also creates good jobs. And that, in sum, is exactly what we are working towards. That would give us and European industry a real competitive advantage. In short, we need to advance fusion technology, but we also need to make sure that it can make its way out of the laboratory onto the market and become a better business case. And so today we discussed much closer cooperation and moving forward with this.
As the Minister-President has already mentioned, Professor Günter, you gave me a very vivid presentation. First, we need to put in place a specific regulatory framework for nuclear fusion. We need to send a clear political signal that this is also a secure investment for private capital. The fact that the public authorities are clearly committed to staying on the ball here over the years and decades makes this a secure investment for industry. And we need to strengthen and expand the ecosystem, like this exemplary model here in Garching, so there are ideal conditions here for locating all the components and everyone who can contribute to developing nuclear fusion.
I am happy to take on the ball of a fusion alliance. Let’s work on this, and once we have achieved it, we will celebrate that here in Garching.
Many thanks.
Source – EU Commission