EU nuclear dispute: Lemke sees “absurd” development - but Germany will probably be left alone
Created: 01/10/2022, 8:24 PM
The Green politicians Cem Özdemir and Steffi Lemke speak out against a green label for nuclear power and get support from their government colleagues.
© IMAGO / Future Image
The EU wants nuclear power plants to be classified as “sustainable” and promoted.
The German government wants to raise an objection, even if the chances are slim.
Berlin / Brussels - Is nuclear energy sustainable?
Environment Minister Steffi Lemke from the Greens answered this question with "a clear no" - and wants the EU Commission to know that with precisely these words.
Lemke announced that the federal government would reject the planned inclusion of nuclear power in the so-called taxonomy in a statement.
The taxonomy is a kind of classification of sustainable economic activities.
What is listed there is classified as worthy of funding and recommended to investors.
On New Year's Eve, the EU Commission announced that it would take up nuclear and gas-fired power plants and classify them as "sustainable".
The member states can submit a statement on this until January 21st.
EU wants to classify nuclear power as "sustainable" - German position in the making
The German statement will be ready "in the next few days" and then be forwarded to Brussels, Lemke said on Sunday evening (January 9) in the ARD. However, it would then be up to the Commission to decide "how to proceed with its taxonomy proposal," explained Lemke.
On Monday, Lemke commented again on the controversial EU proposal - and admitted that the German blockade of the taxonomy regulation has little chance.
"There will only be a vote in the Council of Ministers if a sufficient number of member states come together to raise an objection to this text," Lemke told
Tagesspiegel
.
"And here I have to take note that the likelihood of this is currently not considered to be very high." However, she again criticized the EU plans as "absurd".
Taxonomy: "Entire Federal Government" rejects the EU's nuclear proposal
SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert confirmed in Berlin that Lemke was speaking “on behalf of the entire federal government” when announcing a No to the taxonomy plans for Atom.
This also applies in particular to the Social Democrats, because "the classification of nuclear energy as sustainable meets our clear rejection," he said after consultations with the SPD presidium.
Kühnert also emphasized again that even if the Commission's proposals come into force, the German nuclear phase-out will not be called into question.
The federal government continues to rely on "the ambitious project" to phase out both the use of nuclear power and coal as an energy source.
EU nuclear dispute: Federal government wants to "orientate itself on the coalition agreement"
Vice-government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann said in Berlin that the German statement was "currently still being worked on" and that it would be "based on the coalition agreement". She stressed that it was currently a matter of assessing the content and not yet of formally approving or rejecting the Commission proposal. This is due in a few months at the earliest.
It is apparently still unclear how Germany positions itself in relation to the also controversial classification of natural gas as sustainable.
This is "still in the vote," said a spokesman for the environment department.
On this point, Kühnert defended the Commission's plans, since gas is a fossil fuel, but will still be needed for a transition period.
Lemke, on the other hand, made it clear that she did not consider a classification as sustainable “definitive” to be necessary for such a transitional use.
(jo / AFP)
