How ironic is it to see the esteemed Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, travel to Paris for a meeting with French President, Nicholas Sarkozy, mere days after an EU agreement was reached on significant emissions reduction targets (see “A new, 'green' gold rush,” posted here on October 29). An agreement which requires above average efforts from Poland and the other new member states and which, as outlined more fully in said blog post, could present major opportunities for true innovation in the energy sector.

But one could ask the question of whether rushing to Paris for a meeting with France’s senior salesman, and returning with one, or even two, nuclear power plants, is really the best way to respond to this call for innovation. Should Poland pour so much tax money into a technology that is 40 years old has meanwhile been surpassed? Should such tax money be used to buy a turnkey product that offers little transfer of knowledge and intellectual property? And, last but not least, how ethical is it to buy a technology from a country which is shamelessly selling out that same technology to the Iran of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?

Understandably, France’s aging nuclear-energy sector (the country’s first nuclear power plant was completed in 1956 and was then a novelty), which grew beyond proportion due to massive government subsidies to industry giants such as former Framatome and today’s Aveva and EDF, is in dire need of new markets to whom it can sell its sub-par technology, especially in times when many other European countries consider this technology antiquated and are looking into more modern solutions.

The French nuclear industry and the government with which it is so intertwined, have been turning to Northern Africa and the Middle East in their effort to convince new potential buyers. In this context, the set of energy and climate targets concluded at the recent EU Summit turns out to be a rather self-fulfilling prophecy for France, a door opener to provide quick but not necessary future-proof ways for Poland and its neighbors to deliver on their political promises. Mr Tusk’s plan is therefore a rush decision and it is unlikely to be in Poland’s interest in the long-term.

The Polish government must duly consider whether it wants to fund yesterday’s technology, or whether it instead wants to go one step further and invest in building the competence at home that will ensure truly sustainable energy provision.