As of: March 26, 2024, 5:41 p.m
By: Andreas Steppan
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Upon closer inspection, it was clear from the outset that nationalization of the Walchensee power plant would not be feasible, comments Andreas Steppan, deputy editorial director of the Tölzer Kurier.
© Arndt Pröhl/Uniper
The demand for the nationalization of the Walchensee power plant was a constant topic in the election campaign.
But the plan was not feasible from the start.
A comment from Andreas Steppan, deputy editorial director of the Tölzer Kurier.
There are usually no simple answers to complex questions.
That's stupid for politicians who want to score points with voters.
Because many people don't like to listen to long explanations, they prefer to jump to catchy slogans.
Something like that is called populism.
Comment on the nationalization of the Walchensee power plant: initial situation complicated
This was also the case with the Walchensee power plant election campaign topic.
Politicians from several parties demanded last year: The Walchensee power plant must be nationalized again!
That sounds good, yes, I'm not against it at all.
However, upon closer inspection it was clear from the outset that this idea would not be feasible.
The initial situation was complicated: the owner and operator of the power plant is the Uniper company.
Since 2022, 99 percent of it has belonged to the federal government, which rescued the company that had stumbled in the gas crisis.
Some now saw this as an opportunity to separate the hydropower division from the company, which was already in public hands, and transfer it back to the Free State - just like in the good old days before Stoiber's privatization orgy in the 1990s.
Expropriation is not possible in a free market economy
The fact that the water rights - i.e. the right to use hydropower in the area to generate electricity - would expire in 2030 and have to be reassigned also seemed to play into the hands of the supporters.
But in order to bring the Walchensee power plant back into state hands, the Uniper group would have had to be broken up.
The state should have secured the hydropower sector - but how?
Since expropriation is pretty much impossible in the free market economy, a purchase for an unknown sum would have been the only option.
But there was a lack of a willing seller.
Why should either Uniper or the federal government, as temporary owners, sell off a part of a company that is lucrative and be left with the rubble of other problematic parts of the company?
Walchensee power plant: Neither Uniper nor the federal government wanted to sell
In any case, neither Uniper nor the federal government have ever shown any inclination to sell the hydroelectric power plants.
The Federal Ministry of Finance also pointed out that the Uniper rescue was linked to the condition under EU state aid law that the group was returned to the capital markets as quickly as possible.
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Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) has now said quite casually that it has actually been clear for a long time: There is simply no way for the state to invest in Uniper's hydroelectric power plants.
However, he did not say so during a visit to the Walchensee power plant five months before the state elections - even though the facts were the same and known at the time.
The SPD and the Greens also have to put on the shoes of voter deception
The Kochler SPD politician Klaus Barthel is right when he accuses the state government of voter deception.
Only: His SPD and the Greens, who propagated the unlikely nationalization of power plants even more loudly, will then have to put on the same shoe.
Now I don't want to lump all politicians together in a populist way.
Even before the election, there were quite nuanced statements from candidates and representatives.
But to be honest: the only party that really clearly distanced itself from the proposal was the FDP with its constituency candidate Tim Sachs. It was of little use to the Liberals.
(branch)
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