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FDP leader and finance minister Christian Lindner and economics minister Robert Habeck (Greens) on August 31, 2022 in Meseberg: nuclear power as a stress test for the coalition
Photo:
Kay Nietfeld / dpa
It was a stress test that the FDP had been waiting for with great excitement.
Would Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) allow the three remaining German nuclear power plants to continue to prevent impending energy shortages?
And if so, for how long?
On Monday, one day after the traffic light coalition committee, at least one thing was clear: Habeck wants to keep two nuclear power plants – in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg – as emergency reserves and provide them for the power supply until spring.
The nuclear power plant in Lower Saxony, however, should no longer be operated.
Habeck even appeared in the FDP parliamentary group late Monday afternoon to explain his plans.
After all, there was no complete cancellation, at least there for the Greens.
FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr then explained to journalists: “We are seeing the first movement” – and it is “going in the right direction”.
Nevertheless, “a few questions remained unanswered”, in particular how the nuclear power plants could still feed electricity into the grid after the end of the year.
According to Dürr, this might require an amendment to the Atomic Energy Act in the Bundestag, because the “feeding in of high-power electricity from nuclear power plants” will be prohibited from December 31st.
Dürr drew a vivid comparison: It cannot be that on a February afternoon when electricity from a nuclear power plant is needed, the Bundestag should only then decide on a legal change.
Such difficult legal questions would therefore have to be clarified in the coalition in the coming days, according to the FDP parliamentary group leader.
At the same time, Dürr reiterated his party's desire to extend the service life for all three nuclear power plants beyond the end of the year and, if necessary, to buy new fuel rods for them.
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai, who has been sharply criticizing the Greens on the nuclear power plant issue for weeks, focused his criticism on another aspect: In Lower Saxony, where elections will be held on October 9, the only remaining nuclear power plant in Lingen is to be built Habeck's plan does not go into the emergency reserve.
"Unfortunately, one inevitably gets the feeling that the results of the stress test are politically motivated and that the state election campaign in Lower Saxony was decisive here and not the concern to ensure affordable electricity prices and energy security in Germany," Djir-Sarai told SPIEGEL on Monday evening.
Most recently, the FDP spoke of the three nuclear power plants operating until spring 2024.
A so-called stretching operation - which would only last until spring 2023 - had been criticized by the Free Democrats as too short.
FDP parliamentary group leader Dürr said on Monday that if he "understood Habeck correctly," his project was not about stretching operations, but "shutting down and making ready" nuclear power plants.
FDP election campaign topic in Lower Saxony
The Liberals are now adopting a dual strategy.
In the Lower Saxony state election campaign, the FDP has long used the issue to differentiate itself from the Greens and the SPD.
On Monday morning, FDP top candidate Stefan Birkner presented a poster with his likeness on the sidelines of the committee meetings at the party headquarters in Berlin: "Nuclear power: Those who vote for the FDP choose a secure power supply," is the slogan.
On Twitter, Birkner demands the continued operation of the three remaining nuclear power plants, including the plant in Lingen in Lower Saxony.
It is supposed to be shut down at the end of this year and then dismantled.
Birkner told SPIEGEL on Monday evening about the results of the stress test that Habeck "simply ignored" the network operators' reference to the positive effects of nuclear power plants on the security of the power supply.
The demand for the continued operation of all nuclear power plants still in operation is not only about the security of the power supply, but above all about doing everything possible to ease the tension in view of the skyrocketing prices.
“If that doesn't succeed, waves of bankruptcies, insolvencies and indebted private households threaten.
We must therefore maximize the available power generation capacities in Germany and not switch them off for ideological reasons,” said Birkner.
If Habeck and the Greens continue to reject this path, "the high prices will also be on their account from now on."
Apart from that, the signal to the European neighbors is fatal: "Solidarity and acceptance of responsibility?
None," said the campaigner.
Only last week, at a meeting in Bremen, the FDP parliamentary group spoke out in favor of deciding on a temporary “runtime extension” for German nuclear power plants “as soon as possible”.
The deputies also demanded the purchase of new fuel elements.
These positions were confirmed on Monday by the FDP Presidium.
However, no period for continued operation was explicitly mentioned in the FDP resolutions.
Before Habeck's decision, Lindner had reaffirmed his basic position for temporary continued operation in the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" on Monday: "There is a lot to suggest that the three nuclear power plants should continue to operate to ensure grid stability".
In these times, all possibilities should be used to reduce the price of electricity for people and companies.
From his point of view, according to Lindner, this is an economic policy stress test that must also play a role in addition to the energy policy stress test.
FDP party vice president Johannes Vogel saw it this way on Monday evening: Habeck's emergency reserve was a step, "but also appears as a political emergency exit".
The FDP, tweeted the parliamentary manager of the FDP parliamentary group, "stay tuned" and is in favor of the continued operation of the three nuclear power plants.
