According to the European version of the US Political News Network (Politico), on September 27, local time, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said that Germany "may" extend the operation time of the two nuclear power plants until April next year. Habek blamed the decision on France's energy supply problems.
Screenshot of Politico's European version
The U.S. Political News Network believes that Germany's energy problems have forced Habek, the Green Party, to back down on the party's key principles. For most Greeners in Germany, rejection of nuclear energy is a core political tenet they have long adhered to.
Germany initially planned to shut down the only three remaining nuclear power plants by the end of this year, namely Issa II in Bavaria, Emsland in Lower Saxony and Neckarwestheim in Baden-Württemberg. But in recent months, as the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has led to soaring electricity prices, there has been a fierce debate in Germany over whether to extend the operation of the remaining three nuclear power plants. Not only the opposition CLD/CSU but also the Liberal Democratic Party, which is in coalition power, has also called for an extension of the operating period of the nuclear power plant.
Earlier this month, Habek said it planned to keep Issa-2 and NeckarWestheim on standby until mid-April 2023 to be integrated into Germany's southern grid in the winter of 2022/23 if necessary.
Habek reconfirmed the "standby" time of the two nuclear power plants on the 27th and linked it to France's energy supply problems.
NeckarWestheim Nuclear Power Plant Source: German media
With 31 of France's 56 nuclear reactors reportedly off the production line, Germany can no longer expect to buy electricity from France this winter, as it has done in previous years. According to Habek, recent stress tests conducted by EDF suggest that electricity generation in France will be only 45 gigawatts this winter, instead of the previously expected 50 gigawatts, and could drop to 40 gigawatts in February. Habek called France's earlier forecast "overly optimistic."
"If this situation is not reversed, we will have Issa II and NeckarWestheim nuclear power plants integrated into the grid in the first quarter of 2023," Habek said. The German government will make a final decision by December at the latest.
German Minister of Economy Robert Habek Source: Political News Network
Habek also said Berlin would bail out a troubled German energy supplier. He suggested that funding should be funded by the state rather than imposing a gas surcharge on consumers as previously planned, saying "I note that there now seems to be alternative financing options that did not exist or have not been found three months ago", "If there is money now... Then this path should be taken. ”
To do so, Germany will reportedly have to release state funds and will likely need to suspend the debt brake enshrined in the German constitution for another year.
According to the German Constitution, Germany's fiscal deficit cannot exceed 0.35% of GDP, unless special economic circumstances occur. In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, Germany launched an economic bailout package in 2020, suspending compliance with the "debt brake" clause in the constitution. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner has said it will return to the "debt brake" by next year.
In a recent interview with him, Lindner said he would only be willing to postpone the return of the "debt brake" clause for another year if there was a "sudden catastrophic challenge" this winter.
On September 27, local time, a spokesperson for Lindner also said that "there is no agreement on canceling the debt brakes of the 2023 draft budget," adding that the idea is "not worth discussing." ”
This leaves the question of how to finance State aid. In theory, the German government could set up a special fund that is not subject to debt rules, as the 100 billion euro special defense fund bill approved by Germany in June this year.
"However, repeating such a fiscal scam would be a radical step," Political News said.
Issa-2 nuclear power plant Source: German media
According to German media reports, after the molten reactor accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan in 2011, the CUN-LDP government led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a decision to shut down the country's nuclear power plants by the end of 2022 in response to public opinion to abandon nuclear power.
In recent years, climate protection has received great attention from European politicians, and nuclear power generation with almost no greenhouse gas emissions has been regarded by many countries as the only way to the energy transition. After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, European countries are highly dependent on Russia in fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, and oil, which makes many people think that it is necessary to improve energy security by expanding the proportion of nuclear power.
But before, the German Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of the Environment, headed by the Green Party, still refused to extend the operation period of existing nuclear power plants out of concerns about safety and nuclear waste storage. Several government ministers from the Green Party have repeatedly stressed that the key to promoting energy transformation is to rely on renewable energy sources such as wind power and photovoltaics. Habek once said, "There is really nothing to say about nuclear power." He said that after last fall's election, there had been a "non-ideological, professional" review of nuclear power, and that "decisions are made by specialized government departments, that is, political decisions." Nuclear power will not be the way Germany will continue to follow. ”
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