The traffic light government disagrees about the nuclear power plant running times.
Berlin The traffic light coalition argues about the basic attitudes of the parties. While the FDP and the opposition are calling for the lifetimes of nuclear power plants to be extended in view of the energy crisis, parts of the Greens want to override the debt brake in the coming year. In addition to this, leading SPD politicians now want to impose an “excess profit tax” on electricity companies as well as on oil companies.
At the weekend, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner called for gas to no longer be used to produce electricity in order to alleviate the gas crisis. At the same time, there should be no electricity crisis. “There is much to be said for not shutting down the safe and climate-friendly nuclear power plants, but using them until 2024 if necessary,” said the FDP chairman of the “Bild am Sonntag”.
Lindner receives support from the opposition. “We have reached a point where the base load capacity of the energy has reached its limits,” said Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) to the Handelsblatt. “The energy transition with gas as the base load has failed. As long as the federal government has not developed a new concept for the energy transition, the nuclear power plants must continue to run,” demanded the deputy federal chairman of the CDU.
Last winter had already shown that production from green energies is often not sufficient and that electricity production that is independent of the weather is therefore essential. There is no alternative to simply generating more electricity from wind and sun.
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The exploding gas and electricity prices are “a threat” for the business location. “We need a base load capability. To fire up lignite-fired power plants is madness,” said Kretschmer in view of their CO2 balance.
The head of the CSU deputy in the Bundestag, Alexander Dobrindt, had previously proposed longer nuclear power plant terms of “at least another five years”. The president of the employers’ association Gesamtmetall, Stefan Wolf, even advocated the construction of new piles. “Technology has evolved,” he told the Funke media group.
Jürgen Trittin does not believe in the debt brake
The Greens vehemently reject this. If necessary, Jürgen Trittin called for a party congress to clarify the issue. Since it is a fundamental question for the Greens, he also questioned a central project of the Liberals: the return to the debt brake in 2023.
>> Read here: Federal agency against longer nuclear power plant runtimes – search for a repository falters
“This debt brake will not survive Christmas. That’s the way it is, everyone knows that,” said the former Federal Environment Minister. He was instrumental in the nuclear phase-out in the late 1990s.
SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich declared at the weekend that he also wanted to impose an “excess profit tax” on the electricity companies. They are currently “making huge excess profits”, he justified the move. The SPD had previously brought the tax into play in view of the petrol prices at mineral oil companies.
More: New power lines prevented and hardly any wind turbines built – Bavaria of all places now fears a gas emergency