Is that true of the Mediterranean as well (though clearly the wind resource in the Mediterranean pales in comparison with that in the Atlantic).

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

And purely on economic grounds, they are correct to reject it - Offshore wind is a lot more expensive to build than on-shore wind, and the increased capacity factors do not, at the current state of the art, make up for this. Which means, that for a country willing to build new nuclear capacity, any ventures into offshore wind would plain and simply cost to much.  Never mind anything else, the price per kwh is just too high. It will likely come down, but whether it will come down faster than on-shore wind (unlikely), or hell, nuclear (well, I expect the price on reactors to come down. I have trouble convincing people of this) is an open question.