Germany's Scholz seeks to end coalition's nuclear squabble

Berlin, Oct 17: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met with top members of the country's three-party governing coalition on Sunday in an effort to settle an inter-party dispute over the lifespan of nuclear power plants.

The chancellor, Economy Minister Robert Habeck of the Greens and Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) discussed the lifespan of the country's three remaining nuclear power plants.

No agreement had been made by the end of the meeting, and further details were not made public. Talks between the three parties were expected to continue on Monday.

What's been happening so far?

On Friday, the Greens agreed to keep two nuclear power plants in southern Germany in reserve until April 15, 2023. However, the party still wants to shut down a third power plant in the northwestern Emsland district by the end of the year.

The Green Party said it would not accept the procurement of new nuclear fuel elements, which would be necessary to keep the Emsland plant on standby.

The FDP wishes to keep all three plants open until 2024. It also argues for the reactivation of plants that had already been shut down.

"This is about a temporary life span extension. We do not want a nuclear renaissance," FDP General-Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai told the broadcaster ARD. "For us, it is important that the focus is on renewable energies."

Djir-Sarai went on to argue that nuclear energy could serve as a "bridge technology" on the path towards renewable energy sources.

Scholz's party, the Social Democrats (SPD), have not taken a clear position in the dispute.

A long awaited phase-out

Germany's nuclear phase-out began in 2000 under an SPD-Green coalition government, which shut down a number of plants.

Years later, under former Chancellor Angela Merkel of the conservative CDU, Germany decided to shut down its remaining nuclear plants. The shutdown was scheduled to be completed at the end of 2022.

Germany's nuclear phase-out has increasingly been drawn into question amid a global energy crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine. Russia has almost completely cut off gas deliveries to Germany over Berlin's support for Kyiv.

On Tuesday, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg told ARD that it was a "mistake" to close nuclear power plants that were already running.

"I personally think it's a very bad idea to focus on coal when [nuclear power] is already in place," she said.

Source: DW