Berlin The Greens’ party congress decision lasted just three days. On Monday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) recaptured the party’s vote for the use of two nuclear power plants. Now all three reactors still connected to the grid should continue to run until April 15, including the nuclear power plant in Emsland.
This puts the Greens in a difficult position. Scholz’ word of power alone is not enough for the continued operation of the nuclear power plants – the Bundestag must decide. This requires the Greens, who wanted to meet for a parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday afternoon to discuss how to proceed.
Whether the parliamentary group supports the chancellor unreservedly was previously completely open. Group leader Britta Haßelmann announced that she wanted to recommend that the group follow the Chancellor’s proposal – but added: “We know that the Emsland nuclear power plant is not necessary in this case.”
It is more important, however, to end the existing controversy in the coalition and to turn to “other, relevant questions”. Green leader Omid Nouripour made a similar statement on Tuesday.
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The discussion in the parliamentary group will be conducted in peace, said Hasselmann. But “of course there will also be critical voices”.
Criticism of “Basta Policy”
When the decision became known, there were some horrified voices in the party. Jürgen Trittin, for example, who is actually the foreign policy spokesman, called a possible draft law “probably not capable of being approved”. The head of the Green Youth, Timon Dzienus, spoke of “basta politics”.
“In such a crisis situation, compromises are required of everyone that go beyond the pain threshold.” Dieter Janecek, economic policy spokesman for the Greens in the Bundestag
The Greens politician Anton Hofreiter, on the other hand, said he expected his parliamentary group to vote positively on the longer nuclear power plant runtimes. On Monday evening, the parliamentary group joined together virtually for a special session.
Dieter Janecek, economic policy spokesman for the Greens in the Bundestag, responded to the chancellor’s power with the request: “In such a crisis situation, compromises are required of everyone that go beyond the pain threshold.” and we need massive additional funds for energy efficiency programs in order to quickly become independent of fossils,” he told the Handelsblatt.
The fact that the Federal Government has not yet submitted a draft law does not make the discussion any easier. It is also unclear when the decision can be made in the Bundestag. In any case, there is not much time left. It is conceivable that the Bundestag will pass the law this week. The decision could also not be made until November.
Greens against running time extension
In any case, it is clear that no new fuel rods will be procured and that all German nuclear power plants will “finally be taken off the grid” by April 15 at the latest, said Hasselmann.
>> Read here: Nuclear power plant summit from Scholz, Habeck and Lindner – Green Party Congress draws a clear line
Nevertheless, there is great concern that with the continued operation of all three nuclear power plants in the coming year, the debate will start again about extending the service life. After all, the electricity market is likely to remain tense in the coming year.
The purchase of new fuel rods was also categorically ruled out at the party congress in Bonn. Party leader Ricarda Lang made this unmistakably clear in several interviews before the start of the meeting on late Friday afternoon. The background is that only the purchase of new fuel rods would enable the nuclear power plants to continue operating beyond the spring.
That set the tone – and the delegates ended up following their top performers without much grumbling, ending up even beating the estimated timetable for the debate.
“We clearly reject calls for further term extensions.” Green Party Congress resolution
“We clearly reject calls for further term extensions,” says the party congress resolution. “The risks in the power system for the coming winter differ significantly from the winter of 2023/24, where, due to the longer lead time, measures that have already been decided will have a stronger effect and more can be implemented.”
The Greens not only rely on saving energy and more energy efficiency, but above all on higher gas import capacities via floating liquid gas terminals, as stated in the party congress resolution. In addition, the availability of electricity from biogas plants is increased. “We are also improving the performance of the power grids, power plant capacities and flexible loads.”
By autumn 2023, the uncertainty factors should be significantly reduced. The Greens say that the supply will remain secure even in extreme scenarios. “An extension of the operational reserve beyond the spring of 2023 or a revival in the winter of 2023/24 is therefore ruled out.”
“We’d rather switch off dangerous, high-risk power plants than curtail wind farms,” says their decision with a view to the nuclear power plant in Emsland.
The use of the reserve at the two southern German nuclear power plants is also “not without prerequisites”, as the Greens explain. The federal government must determine “transparently and with the participation of the Bundestag” that the prerequisites for a crisis scenario exist and that a critical situation is imminent even if the other measures are used. Security must also be guaranteed, “including against external threats”.
More: Chancellor Scholz takes action and extends the operating times for all three nuclear power plants