CDU boss at Maischberger
Merz is considering returning to nuclear power
By Marko Schlichting
04/19/2023, 03:50 am
The SPD party leader Klingbeil meets the CDU chairman Merz at Maischberger. He continues to consider Germany’s completed phase-out of nuclear energy to be a serious mistake and wants to keep options open for reactivation of the existing nuclear power plants. The discussion ends in a clear draw.
It’s Tuesday evening, just after 11 p.m. At Sandra Maischberger on ARD, SPD party leader Lars Klingbeil meets his CDU colleague Friedrich Merz. Anyone expecting a heated argument will be disappointed. The two politicians calmly exchange their arguments. Nonetheless, the discussion is interesting. She begins with a criticism of the traffic light coalition, which comes from Klingbeil: “The last coalition committee lasted three days. That was too long for me. There were important results that will have a positive impact on the country for years. But then it’s not good, if it continues 24 hours later with public disputes. That is not appropriate for the great goals that we have to achieve in this coalition.”
Merz, on the other hand, reacts almost understandingly. “The coalition is in difficult waters,” says the CDU chairman. He wished that the coalition agreement had been put aside after the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Klingbeil reacted: The relief packages for German citizens, the one hundred billion euro package for the Bundeswehr, gas and electricity price brakes and the construction of the LNG terminals were points that would not have been in the coalition agreement. The government got the country through the winter well. The blackouts predicted by Merz and his party friends did not materialize.
Merz against rapid dismantling of the decommissioned nuclear power plants
And that brings you to the nuclear power plants that were shut down on Saturday. It is known that Merz finds this decision wrong. “We have seen strong fluctuations in the power grid over the past six months, and we are now unnecessarily shutting down three safe and CO2-free nuclear power plants for purely political and ideological reasons. There are currently 400 nuclear power plants in operation around the world, and 60 new ones are being built . The only ones who are getting out in the middle of the biggest energy crisis since the 1970s are the Germans,” he says. You only got through the winter because the citizens saved and the industrial companies shut down their production. Germany was confronted with declining industrial production for the first time this year.
“If the nuclear power plants would continue to run, the industry would not be better off,” counters Klingbeil, who finds the current discussion “not honest”. The industry has demanded planning security from the traffic light. For companies, too, the future lies with renewable energies. He is not happy that coal-fired power plants have to be used to generate electricity. But the war in Ukraine is to blame. Now you have to go to the expansion of renewable energies, for which the traffic light coalition has created the appropriate basis. “And when we finally do that, we’ll end up with the safest and cheapest electricity.” However, the road to get there is hard and uncomfortable.
Merz is also in favor of the expansion of renewable energies, but would also like to promote electricity from hydropower and biomass in addition to wind and sun. He also continues to rely on nuclear energy. That is why the Union will propose this week in the Bundestag not to dismantle the existing nuclear power plants immediately, as the traffic light wants. If the federal elections are then won in 2025, one might want to consider reconnecting the remaining nuclear power plants. “We are not yet able to guarantee a base load power supply for private households and the economy with all regenerative forms of energy,” Merz points out.
Merz believes that Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder’s proposal to put nuclear energy in the hands of the federal states is open to discussion, as is any other proposal that could lead to an increase in electricity supply. However, he does not think it can be implemented because the Atomic Energy Act and possibly even the Basic Law would have to be changed. The majority is missing.
“Söder’s proposal is a very populist proposal that is due to the election campaign and the current mood. But the time for nuclear energy is over,” Klingbeil makes clear and demands that the CSU should promote the expansion of wind and solar energy in Bavaria as well as Promote photovoltaic systems.
Merz knows the bill, Klingbeil does not
Today, Wednesday, the federal cabinet wants to get the building energy law on the way, in which the switch from gas and oil heating to low-emission heating systems from 2024 is regulated. The SPD attached great importance to the change being socially cushioned. However, he does not know the template because he is not a member of the cabinet, says Klingbeil. “I know her,” says Merz. “There is nothing in it about social cushioning.” But she will come, promises Klingbeil.
Union and Ampel agree on the goals of environmentally friendly heating, but not on the way, explains Merz. It’s all happening too quickly for the CDU leader. He wants the law to come into force in 2026, as originally planned.
In the end there is no real winner. On the contrary: one can well imagine how the two politicians left the show in unison, in order to then arrange to meet each other for pumpernickel and Calenberger pancakes.