Green outrage in the nuclear dispute is only a play: Europe is no longer dancing to the whistle of the odd Germans

Created: 01/05/2022, 09:06 AM

From: Georg Anastasiadis

A comment by Georg Anastasiadis, editor-in-chief of Münchner Merkur.

© Jens Wolf / dpa / Marcus sleep

The outrage of the German Greens at the Brussels decision to classify nuclear power as sustainable is just as playful as it has no consequences.

A comment by Merkur editor-in-chief Georg Anastasiadis.

The outrage among the German Greens was enormous when the EU Commission awarded nuclear power the seal of quality “sustainable” on New Year's Eve, of all things.

But all the threats and curses from Berlin now follows - absolutely nothing.

Germany will abstain from the vote on the Brussels energy plan, said the traffic light coalition yesterday, somewhat meekly.

From the noblest of motives, of course: One must not stab the back of the French President Emmanuel Macron, who is being oppressed by right-wing forces, in his presidential election campaign!

Greens stage protest folklore for their own supporters

Seldom has a party fallen more beautifully than the Greens in the nuclear dispute with the EU. A bit of protest folklore for your own supporters, that has to be enough. A game that was agreed upon? Naturally. The traffic lights have long since resigned themselves to the fact that Europe no longer wants to dance to the whistle of the odd Germans. Not in migration policy, especially not in energy and nuclear phase-out. The wind has turned. Angela Merkel is gone. Now the French Macron is swinging the baton in Europe. As expected, the EU nuclear plan written down by Ursula von der Leyen follows his wishes.

Apart from the future Franco-Italian shaped European policy, this does not necessarily have to be to the detriment of German citizens and German companies.

For them, energy will only remain affordable (and certainly available at all) if not all Europeans simultaneously follow German obsessions and abandon nuclear and coal at the same time - if the Germans can tap into the common EU electricity market in the future, in the event of wind and solar energy in the dark are not sufficiently available.

In truth, the Greens know that too.

The fact that they are still spreading as an eco-party may be found mendacious or understandable.

What is much worse, however, is that the other parties, including the Union and the FDP, are also making good faces about bad games.