“Emsland will not make any real contribution”

Lower Saxony’s SPD Environment Minister Olaf Lies calls the continued operation of the Emsland nuclear power plant “not necessary” and speaks of an “unspeakable debate”. The Greens are also irritated by the Chancellor’s decision.

Dhe decision by Olaf Scholz (SPD) to continue operation of all three remaining nuclear power plants in Germany on the basis of his policy competence as Chancellor of the Federal Republic mainly affects the state of Lower Saxony. Because there is the Emsland nuclear power plant, the only nuclear power plant that was supposed to go offline on December 31, 2022 and, unlike the two southern German nuclear power plants, should not continue to run in stretched operation. That was the law. That’s what Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck had planned. That was also the decision of the party conference of the Federal Greens at the weekend.

And that’s what the current red-black state government in Lower Saxony wanted, with the SPD taking the lead on this issue. The decision by the Federal Chancellor on Monday evening that the Emsland nuclear power plant should also go into operation was met with displeasure from the state government in Hanover. In a hasty statement on Monday evening it was said that the continued operation of the Emsland nuclear power plant was “not necessary”. The responsible Environment Minister Olaf Lies (SPD) explained that there was neither a need for additional electricity in northern Germany nor did the fuel rods in Emsland have relevant reserves. The nuclear power plant in Emsland will therefore make “no real contribution”. After all, the decision of his party friend in the Chancellery marks the end of an “unspeakable debate,” said Lies. Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) was a little more reserved and announced that the state of Lower Saxony would now create the necessary conditions for continued operation and praised the fact that at least “no new fuel rods were bought”.