Should the federal government really have gone through with the nuclear phase-out after the Russian attack on Ukraine? A media report reignites the debate.
In two special meetings of Bundestag committees, Economics Minister Robert Habeck and Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (both Greens) defended their decisions regarding Germany’s nuclear phase-out.
That’s not enough for representatives of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. “There is still a reasonable assumption: Habeck’s ministry did the opposite of what the minister had publicly announced. Distortion of facts instead of open-ended examination,” said the spokesman for climate protection and energy for the Union parliamentary group, Andreas Jung (CDU), of the German Press agency in Berlin.
The “Cicero” article
The current controversy is triggered by a report in the magazine “Cicero”, according to which internal concerns about the nuclear phase-out planned for the following year were suppressed in both the economics and the environment ministries in spring 2022 – which both ministries deny.
Ministry of Economic Affairs did not want to release documents
A “Cicero” journalist fought for the release of the files in court and, according to the magazine, ended up with “two well-filled file folders.” Until then, Habeck’s Federal Ministry of Economics had only handed over some of the requested documents and justified this with the confidentiality of the discussions, as can be read in the Berlin Administrative Court’s ruling from January of this year.
“A subsequent release of confidentially transmitted information would mean that an unbiased exchange of opinions would no longer be possible in the future,” the court writes about the ministry’s argument. In addition, the role of nuclear power is being discussed in the media and politically.
That didn’t convince the judges. From their point of view, the ministry was unable to justify why the publication would affect future opinion formation within the federal government.
The controversial paper
In a draft note dated March 3, 2022, employees of Habeck’s ministry argued that, under certain circumstances, a limited extension of the life of the remaining German nuclear power plants until the following spring could make sense. They advised that this possibility be further examined. One aspect that was not discussed in the draft in question was the question of the safety of continued operation. This was primarily about energy supply issues. The paper is also available to the German Press Agency in Berlin. According to the ministry, only State Secretary Patrick Graichen, a party friend of Habeck’s, who later had to leave office after allegations of nepotism, was aware of the document at management level – it would not have reached the minister.
According to Habeck’s presentation, this is not a problem. “My company has 2,400 employees,” said the minister. The technical discussion is important. For him, however, the discussions with the nuclear power plant operators were crucial. “What’s crucial is that I was always able to ask the right questions in the really relevant rounds, and these are the rounds with the utility operators, i.e. RWE, ENBW and Eon. And I’m sure that they were asked.”
The operators said at the time that the existing fuel elements would be used up by the end of the year. This information was later corrected: “It was then said that they could run for two, three, four, five months longer. And the term was then extended again accordingly.”
The Ministry of Economic Affairs also says that the paper was included in a later published audit note by the ministries of economics and the environment, in which they spoke out against an extension of the term – with reference to the “very high economic costs, constitutional and security risks,” as stated in one press release said.
Why the nuclear phase-out was discussed again in 2022
The trigger for the renewed debate at the time was the Russian attack on Ukraine on February 24, 2022 and, as a result, a dramatic deterioration in relations between Germany and Russia. At that time, Russia was Germany’s most important gas supplier. The question was what this would mean for energy security in this country. From September onwards, practically no more Russian gas flowed into Germany.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs argued in the summer that Germany would have a problem with the provision of heat in the event of a gas shortage – and not the electricity that nuclear power plants would supply. FDP leader Christian Lindner and party colleagues countered: Even a small contribution to energy security is relevant.
The nuclear phase-out in spring 2022 was not popular: in a March survey by the opinion research institute Civey on behalf of the “Augsburger Allgemeine”, 70 percent of those surveyed were in favor of an extension of the term. In the ARD Germany trend from April 2023, 59 percent rated the decision to phase out nuclear power as wrong.
Traffic light dispute over nuclear power
The Greens, for whom anti-nuclear power protests of earlier years are practically part of the founding myth, opposed any further operation for a long time. In October, a party conference finally supported Habeck’s proposals to keep two of the last three German nuclear power plants in reserve beyond the turn of the year and to use them again at short notice to generate electricity if necessary. But it was only a word of power from Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) two days later for a temporary continued operation until mid-April 2023 that ended the dispute.
The history
As much as the Greens care about phasing out nuclear power, the decision was made by a black-yellow federal government led by Angela Merkel (CDU) after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. In 2022, three reactors were still online, Isar 2 in Bavaria, Neckarwestheim in Baden-Württemberg and the Emsland nuclear power plant in Lower Saxony. Originally they were supposed to go offline at the turn of the year 2022/23 – this only happened a few months later, around a year ago on April 15th.
The prices
According to the comparison portal Verivox, consumer prices are also falling again along with wholesale prices for electricity. Compared to the previous year, these fell by an average of 17 percent. New customer prices for electricity have actually fallen by 25 percent year-on-year and are back at pre-crisis levels at 24.7 cents per kilowatt hour.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
