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Söder during his government statement
Photo: Matthias Balk / dpa
The Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder wants to renegotiate the decision to phase out coal power in Germany after the federal election.
It must be checked, "whether an exit from coal is not possible faster," said the CSU chairman in his government statement in the Bavarian state parliament in Munich.
"I think 2038 is unambitious at this point too." He announced that he would be able to work to enable coal to be phased out as early as 2030.
Saxony's head of government Michael Kretschmer (CDU) immediately contradicted Söder. “The coal compromise must continue to apply. The compromise gives security for all concerned, «says Kretschmer. "The Free State of Bavaria is not affected and can speak more easily from the outside". For years they had consulted with all the associations and found a “good, not easy way”. However, this will only succeed if the agreements made are not constantly called into question.
Criticism also came from the FDP. "Söder is wandering around again unsuspectingly and confusing populist symbolic politics with real climate protection," said the climate policy spokesman for the Bundestag parliamentary group Lukas Köhler. In the opinion of almost all experts, the rising CO2 price will ensure that coal-based power generation will be unprofitable and thus ended in a market economy before 2030. "The renegotiation of the coal phase-out called for by Söder would not have any benefit in terms of climate protection, but would simply flush further billions in compensation into the coffers of the power plant operators at the expense of taxpayers."
Söder had already called for a coal phase-out by 2030 two years ago, but in the end the federal government did not decide to phase out coal until 2038. In his view, a faster phase-out is important so that Germany can achieve its climate targets.
dab / dpa
