MFor days Robert Habeck and his people have been explaining to the Germans that it is nonsense to let nuclear power plants run longer. You have put forward innumerable arguments. The Economics Minister has now refuted all of these arguments through his own actions. Ever since Habeck decided to leave two reactors connected to the grid until next spring, one thing is clear: Germany does have an electricity problem after all. It is justifiable from a safety point of view to leave the power plants connected to the grid. There are enough technicians. You can change the Atomic Energy Act. And of course nuclear energy can also help to overcome the energy crisis, not only wind turbines and solar roofs.
This ends an undignified debate for which the Greens were mainly responsible. They exaggerated problems of nuclear power, which can be solved with political will, and systematically downplayed its advantages. They received support from activists, who became all the more irrelevant the more the public questioned their arguments.
Just a few days ago, the veteran of the anti-nuclear movement, Jürgen Trittin, claimed that Putin would be happy about an extension. He suggested that the German nuclear lobby was controlled by Russia. In fact, the opposite is true. The Kremlin would like nothing more than for Germany and Europe’s reactors to go offline. Then gas-fired power plants have to step in, supplied from far-off Siberia as in the past. If anything, protests against domestic fracking are supported by the Kremlin. High-ranking military and politicians have been warning of this for a long time. Trittin twisted these facts into the opposite.
Perhaps the Greens suspected that there was no way around nuclear energy this winter, but their arguments became increasingly strident. That may be understandable from the point of view of the party. The protests against nuclear power are at the core of her being, and she has already had to free herself from many beliefs, such as arms deliveries and the German armed forces. But that can’t excuse Habeck’s behavior.
In one of the worst crises since the Second World War, an economics minister cannot take into account the sensitivities of the party base. He must keep the good of the country in mind and act accordingly. Even now, Habeck fails. He wants to shut down the nuclear power plant in Emsland, Lower Saxony, at the end of the year, also to support the green state association in the election campaign. In the end, Germany’s energy supply may not depend on this one nuclear power plant. But maybe it is. Habeck signals to everyone that this question is less important to him than party tactics.
The patience of many of our neighbors has run out
Anyone who thinks that’s justifiable, because that’s the way democracy works, should consider how it’s received abroad. The federal government has to beg France for gas because it is becoming apparent that we may not have enough in winter. The French, on the other hand, need electricity and have therefore been asking for months that Germany keeps everything connected to the grid. Politicians in Sweden and Norway have also pushed for this, because it could be that they can supply less electricity than usual. But the government is still not pulling out all the stops, despite all requests. How does she want to explain that, should it actually be tight in winter? Sorry, the state elections in Lower Saxony were more important?
The patience of many of our neighbors has already been used up. For years, German governments ignored warnings about Nord Stream 2. They didn’t want to hear that people were becoming dependent on Putin’s gas, leaving the East Europeans alone with their worries and even treating them with contempt. These countries now rightly expect that Germany will do everything it can to help itself. Otherwise they might not be inclined to help us in an emergency.
For Germany there is far more at stake than the supply in the coming winter. In the long term, it must become more independent of energy imports from abroad in order to remain politically capable of acting. It must ensure safe prices so that the economy remains competitive. It must remain an anchor within Europe, also for electricity and gas. It must not lose sight of climate protection. All of this speaks in favor of using nuclear power for several years. That would also be a turning point in the energy issue. This would require an intrepid, non-ideological policy. The Greens need to understand what the situation demands of them.
