(December 7, 1990) WISE recently received a letter from AEDENAT (Asociacion Ecologista de Defensa de la Naturaleza) in Madrid describing Spanish activists' efforts to stop the nuclear industry in their country.
(343.3432) WISE Amsterdam - Approximately three hundred environmental groups from all over Spain have begun a campaign to close down Spanish nuclear power plants, with the support of political parties, trade unions and other citizen's associations to carry it through. The novelty of the campaign lies in the way that the groups have chosen to carry it out: by promoting a proposed law using a legal mechanism called the "Popular Legislative Initiative". According to the initiative, citizens' groups can force the Congress to discuss a law proposal if it is first accepted by a Congressional board and they are then able to gather 500,000 valid signatures in support of it.
The law proposal demands an end to construction of new nuclear power plants, the closing down of the nuclear plants now in operation, and a ban on the export, import and transport of related radioactive substances and equipment. The official procedure for having it adopted has already begun. The proposal has been delivered to and accepted by a board of the Congress. Now the groups are collecting signatures.
According to AEDENAT, this campaign is probably the most ambitious taken on by the Spanish environmental and anti-nuclear movement because of its objectives and extent. The signatory of the letter, a member organization of the CEAN (Coordinadora Estatal Anti-nuclear), wishes to give its support to this initiative and is also asking international groups for written statements or press releases in support.
Source: AEDENAT (see address below)
Contact: Jose Luis G. Cano, Comision Promotora, Iniciativa Legislativa Popular Antinuclear, C/Camponmanes 13, E-28013 Madrid, Spain, tel: (91) 541 10 71, fax: (91) 571 71 08.