“Peak of absurdity”: France's UN man dissects Habeck and Scholz' energy plan
Created: 06/22/2022, 23:00
By: Tom Offinger
German energy policy is currently reminiscent of an anthill.
This does not go unnoticed by our neighbors in France.
New York - German energy policy remains under scrutiny.
At the latest as a result of the Ukraine war, the failures of the past few years, especially with regard to energy dependence on Russia, became clear.
Economics Minister Robert Habeck and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz are trying to find a quick solution and are now even bringing a resumption of energy production using coal-fired power plants into play.
A strategy that is also shaking heads abroad.
German energy policy: UN politicians complain loudly
"German energy policy has now reached the height of absurdity," warned France's UN envoy Gérard Araud clearly on Twitter, referring to the federal government's most recent deliberations.
"All of Europe will be polluted thanks to this anti-nuclear dogmatism."
In the past few days, Chancellor Scholz had ruled out extending the service life of German nuclear power plants as a solution to the supply problem, and had met with some opposition.
“This is a purely ideological debate.
The Greens and the SPD are refusing a necessary discussion," said Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder, for example.
Scholz had explained to Merkur that an extension of the service life could not be implemented without further ado: "The nuclear phase-out was decided a long time ago, the fuel elements and the necessary maintenance intervals of the systems were precisely tailored to the phase-out.
The fuel rods will last until the end of the year.”
German energy policy: gas supplies are becoming increasingly scarce
While reactivation of nuclear power plants seems to be off the table, at least for the time being, isolated voices are trying to use coal-fired power plants.
"In the electricity sector, additional coal-fired power plants should be running instead of gas-fired power plants as soon as possible," RWE boss Markus Krebber argued in the
Süddeutsche Zeitung on Monday
(20th June).
In general, it is now a matter of reducing gas consumption, Krebber continues, both in industry and in private consumption: "Everywhere where you can switch to other energy sources, this should be done."
It is difficult to estimate how long this, from the French point of view, "absurd" discussion about Germany's energy future will continue.
Sooner or later the federal government will have to make a decision.
At the latest when the temperatures drop again - and the heating requirement will go up.
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