The allegations are violent: In the midst of the severe energy crisis in 2022, the ministries of the Green politicians Habeck and Lemke are said to have deceived the public. The nuclear phase-out was forced against our better judgment. Both houses defend themselves vehemently, but the dispute does not end there.
The excitement is extremely high: Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck and Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke are said to have ignored in-house experts in spring 2022 and deceived the public. Their goal: to implement the planned nuclear phase-out. The accusation is made by the magazine “Cicero”, which has requested access to internal documents. The Federal Ministry of Economics rejects the report as “not accurate” and the description of the processes is “shortened and without context”. Nevertheless: At the request of the CDU, Habeck is to be questioned tomorrow, Friday, at a special meeting of the Committee for Climate Protection and Energy. The Union sees the question of returning to nuclear power back on the agenda.
What is it about? On February 24, 2022, Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine begins. Germany’s continued supply of gas and oil from Russia is in question. Even if it will take until the summer before Russia first reduces gas supplies and then – under pretexts – stops them completely. But the federal government has been alarmed for a long time. The gas storage facilities sold by the previous government to the Russian state-owned companies Gazprom and Rosneft have run dry – until now largely unnoticed. In the weeks before the Russian attack, the federal government discreetly set up a task force to prepare the German energy supply for the possible loss of Russian energy sources. The newly formed traffic light coalition had no plans for such a scenario in the ministries or the Chancellery.
What happens next without Russian gas?
The black-yellow federal government had already decided in 2011 that nuclear energy should finally end in Germany at the end of 2022. The last three reactors are therefore scheduled to be taken off the grid in the very year when the Russian attack endangers the entire energy supply. At the end of 2021, the Grohnde, Grundremmingen C and Brokdorf reactors had already been shut down. In the first year of the Ukrainian war, Emsland, Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim 2 remain. The latter two are in the south of Germany, where there is a lot of industry but hardly any connection to wind power from the north of the republic.
The Federal Environment Ministry, which is responsible for reactor safety, and the Federal Ministry of Economics are therefore examining the necessity and feasibility of extending the service life of these three reactors. Both houses have only been in green hands for a few weeks. As usual, not only the ministers Robert Habeck and Steffi Lemke are members of the anti-nuclear power party, but also the state secretaries they installed.
The joint assessment of both houses is quick and clear: On March 8th, both ministers spoke out against allowing the nuclear power plants to remain in operation beyond the New Year, despite all the uncertainties. As justification, they refer to statements by the nuclear power plant operators PreussenElektra and RWE, according to which continued operation would be difficult, as well as to their own experts.
Was dissent suppressed?
In the documents, which “Cicero” was only allowed to view after a lengthy legal dispute, there is a note that does not seem to fit with this presentation at all: “An extension of the lifetime of nuclear energy until March 31, 2023 should be further examined as a precautionary measure because it can reduce natural gas consumption in the electricity sector to a minimum.” In his note, the expert describes the great uncertainty as to whether sufficient gas can be stored for the overall supply by winter. An extended service life of the nuclear power plants could therefore provide a remedy.
The letter is dated March 3rd. Habeck is said to have never seen it because his State Secretary Patrick Graichen, who was later fired for nepotism, refused to extend the term – for ideological reasons, as “Cicero” suspects. Evidence: A joint audit note from Graichen and Lemke’s State Secretary Stefan Tidow dated March 4th, which lists numerous arguments against an extension of the term. The argumentation of the specialist speaker from the previous day is not reflected in it.
Another piece of evidence also concerns the inspection note sent back and forth between Tidow and Graichen. The head of the department for nuclear safety and radiation protection in the Ministry of the Environment, Gerrit Niehaus, denounced the “grossly incorrect” representation in Graichen’s audit report in an email to Tidow. He tried to prevent the worst and weakened statements that he could not support. For “Cicero” this is further evidence of manipulation: “The experts in the ministry were hardly listened to, and their assessments were ignored or falsified,” writes the magazine.
Ministries are resisting staunchly
Both ministries defend themselves firmly and also publish the controversial notes: The Environment Ministry explains that Niehaus’ changes were included in the final version of the test note, as it was presented to Habeck and Lemke and finally to the public on March 8th. Graichen submitted his draft “precisely for the purpose of technical correction,” which the Environment Ministry did. “Due to a lack of inquiries before reporting, we had no opportunity to prevent any misunderstandings in the media,” said Lemke’s ministry, denouncing “Cicero’s” journalistically unclean approach.
Habeck’s house also sees no evidence that in-house experts were ignored in favor of a politically desirable external representation. The specialist department’s statement of March 3rd was simply outdated due to the management level’s contacts with the power plant operators, who had pointed out various difficulties in extending the running time.
The term extension will still come
The fact that, after a long political dispute, an extension of the term until April 15, 2023 was ordered is due to the situation that had worsened until the summer: the Russian gas tap was actually turned off. French nuclear power plants are struggling with technical problems and a lack of cooling water. The supply of German coal mines is at risk due to the historically low level of the Rhine. And the nuclear power plant operators are also coming to a more optimistic assessment of possible extended operation beyond the turn of the year.
Ultimately, Habeck acquiesces to Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s decision to extend the term without really putting up any resistance. Together with the anti-nuclear power icon Jürgen Trittin, Habeck made it clear to his own people at the federal party conference in Bonn that 14 weeks longer was not important. After all, this will really mean an end to nuclear power in Germany. The Greens’ base is refraining from an uprising and Germany is getting through its first winter without gas from Putin’s empire safely, but immensely expensively.
One-sided representation
Nevertheless, the process makes it clear that there were also political reservations in Habeck’s house about extending the term. In a volatile situation, the ministry leadership did not make it its primary task to present opposing arguments to its own position. The political competition was already doing that; also those in their own government alliance: the FDP.
It is common for a ministry leadership to implement political decisions along its own party lines. In this respect, “Cicero” documents what is not surprising, but politicians are still reluctant to see it published. Especially since Habeck repeatedly complains for himself – and also for Graichen – that both of them had practiced anything other than pure doctrine during the energy crisis: the reserve operation for coal-fired power plants that had actually expired and the hastily organized import of liquid natural gas (LNG), including the improvised addition of new LNG plants. Ports were not green heart projects.
A debate that is hard to ignore
And so to the present: The Union’s energy expert, Andreas Jung, is demanding a comprehensive clarification of the allegations by Habeck. “The old suspicion is confirmed: Parliament and the population were lied to when nuclear power was phased out,” writes Thorsten Frei, parliamentary director of the Union faction, on Deceived. Either he lied or he didn’t have his own ideology ministry under control.”
CDU politician Michael Grosse-Brömer tells the same paper: “An independent review is now needed as soon as possible as to the extent to which the remaining nuclear power plants can be brought back online.” He calls for the further dismantling of the last three nuclear reactors to be stopped. The Union wants to hold a nuclear power debate again before the upcoming European and state elections as well as the federal elections next year – which may come earlier. This could also drive the wedge even deeper between the SPD and the Greens on the one hand and the more nuclear-friendly FDP on the other.
Lemke and Habeck will not be able to ignore this and may have to put additional files on the table for internal communication and decision-making. The fruitfulness of this debate remains to be seen. At the moment, the government and the opposition cannot even agree on whether the energy supply is currently stable and prices are falling – or the complete opposite is the case. The political interpretation of expert opinions is at least not a unique selling point for federal ministers from the Green Party.