Gas emergency plan: Now please have the courage to use nuclear power plants, Mr. Habeck
Created: 06/25/2022, 06:38
By: Thomas Schmidtutz
Has also expected a lot from its own base recently: Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) © Jens Schlueter / AFP / Litzka (Montage)
Economics Minister Robert Habeck has recently scored heavily in public perception with his calm and pragmatic course in the Ukraine crisis.
But the decisive acid test is still ahead of the Green politician.
A comment by Thomas Schmidtutz
Munich – Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck is scared of any imposition these days.
This even applies to your own base.
Only a few days ago, in view of the tense supply situation, the Ober-Grüne announced that the once demonized German coal-fired power plants would be allowed to run longer than planned.
The minister had previously made a liquefied gas deal with Qatar clear.
A few months ago, both would have been unthinkable.
Now Habeck is preparing companies, private households and the green basis for the next imposition.
On Thursday, the minister announced the second escalation level of the gas emergency plan.
After that, the emergency level threatens.
Then the federal and state governments could intervene directly in the market and decide for themselves which companies still receive gas and which do not.
Gas emergency plan: Breaking a historical taboo
It would be breaking a historical taboo.
But that's not far.
As of July 11, the Russian Gazprom group wants to take the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline off the grid for maintenance work.
Because the alternative southern route Turkstream will also be checked from the end of June, it is possible that no more gas could flow to Germany at all.
The already tense supply situation would thus worsen overnight.
In order to avert the very worst, Habeck is increasingly appealing to consumers to save gas.
The liquid gas deals should also bring some relief.
But Habeck has so far shied away from another obvious component: extending the service life of the remaining three German nuclear power plants.
The step is overdue, explained the former economics expert Prof. Volker Wieland recently in a guest article for
Merkur.de
.
Many other renowned economists take a similar view.
Security of supply: Lifetime extension for nuclear power plants becomes a litmus test
For the Greens, the question could become the ultimate litmus test.
After all, the party has its founding core in the anti-nuclear movement of the 1980s.
But a good 40 years later, Germany is at a turning point.
The old dogmas are of no help in the fight for energy security.
After liquid gas and coal, the remaining German nuclear power plants must now also be put on the table.
If anyone can push through the issue of extending the term of the green basis, then it is Habeck.
Does he have the courage to do it?
That would be at least one building block for improving the security of supply that has been cracked - but an important one.
(utz)