The German right has found an unexpected new ally: Greta Thunberg. Guest on journalist Sandra Maischberger’s very popular talk show on the public channel ARD, the Swedish environmental activist said on Wednesday 12 October that Germany should continue to operate its existing nuclear power plants rather than relying on those coal. ” Since [les centrales nucléaires] are there, I think it would be a mistake to shut them down and turn to coal”said the founder of the Fridays for Future movement, as the German government announced in July the reopening of ten coal-fired power plants by spring 2023.
Even before the program was broadcast in its entirety, the main leaders of the right seized on the words of the young activist in the fight against global warming – excerpts from which were published on Tuesday evening on social networks – to urge the government to extend the life of the last three nuclear power plants still in operation in Germany, one of which is due to close at the end of December and the other two in April 2023.
“Like Greta Thunberg, I think [qu’il faut utiliser nos centrales nucléaires] at least until the end of 2024”, reacted the president of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). While the journalist who questioned her pointed out to her that the Swedish activist had no “no date given”the German opposition leader agreed that he was “more precise than her” on the calendar, while explaining that the essential is elsewhere: “The debate we are currently having on the price of energy would be less important if we had a wider offer [en matière de production d’électricité] »said Friedrich Merz.
“Greta is growing up”
On the far right too, Greta Thunberg’s remarks were – for once – welcomed. “While her groupie Ricarda Lang [la présidente des Verts] continues to cling to the end of the nuclear, Greta Thunberg (…) now considers the closure of nuclear power plants to be a mistake. Greta grows up, while Ricarda remains locked in childish naivety”quipped the head of Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, conveniently leaving aside the charge of the Swedish activist against coal-fired power plants, of which the far-right party is an ardent promoter.
Unsurprisingly, it was among the Liberal Democrats (FDP) that Greta Thunberg’s statements were most widely taken up. Unlike the CDU and the AfD, which are in opposition, the FDP is part of the government coalition led by Social Democrat Olaf Scholz (SPD). However, within it, it is the only party to demand the extension of the life of nuclear power plants, unlike the SPD and the Greens, who support the timetable presented on September 5 by the Ecologist Minister of the Economy , Robert Habeck, and is divided into two phases: definitive closure of the Emsland power plant (Lower Saxony) at the end of the year and “reservation” of Isar 2 (Bavaria) and Neckarwestheim (Baden-Württemberg) until April 2023, which means that these will cease to operate at the end of December but that they can be called upon if necessary for another three months.
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