Vol. 461 No. 5
138 Mr. E. Ryan asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications if he has amended and updated the Euratom Treaties to take account of the concerns of non-nuclear jurisdictions sharing land or maritime borders with countries operating nuclear power and reprocessing plants. [3275/96]
I refer the Deputy to my reply to Question No. 40 of 31 January 1996. There has been no change in the situation since then.
As I said in my reply on 31 January last, any amendment to the Euratom Treaty will require the unanimous agreement of all member states. This unanimity will be difficult to achieve because of the opposition of certain member states to any review of Euratom. Nevertheless, the Government remains committed to seeking an improvement in the health and safety provisions of the Euratom Treaty and has raised the issue of a review of the Treaty in the context of the Intergovernmental Conference to be held this year.
