In the dispute over the previously only roughly planned corridor for a new power line, Bavaria’s Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger is ready for a meeting with the Thuringian Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (Left). “We are of course available for any discussion. But in the end, neither Bavaria nor Thuringia will determine the exact route, but the planners of the Federal Network Agency, who will proceed there according to a strict catalog of criteria,” said the Free Voters leader on Tuesday after a meeting of the cabinet in Munich. He was responding to a request from Ramelow to talk about the much-criticized power line called P540, which, according to previous information, partly runs through southern Thuringia.
Aiwanger once again rejected Ramelow’s criticism that Bavaria had planned the route without consultation with Thuringia: It is not his route that could partially go through Thuringia. “I say this so clearly and I did not plan this route, as Mr. Ramelow wants to accuse me of, but it is simply a planning proposal from the Federal Network Agency.” In addition, not only Bavaria will benefit from the construction of the route, but also Thuringia if Bavarian solar power flows to consumers via the line. At the same time, Aiwanger pointed out that no one yet knows exactly where the route will end up. “This is now a ruler’s line, a significant proportion of which is now also on Thuringian soil. Perhaps upon closer examination it will become clear that we would have to go a little further south and then in individual cases we will be back in Bavaria,” he emphasized.
It is only clear that the power line runs directly on the Bavarian-Thuringian border. Nobody knows exactly whether the course will ultimately be “a kilometer above or a kilometer below”. Therefore, Ramelow should “disarm a little now” in the debate. In a letter to Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), Ramelow recently offered talks between government representatives from both neighboring countries. He hopes that there will be “a coordinated Thuringian-Bavarian approach,” says Ramelow’s letter, which was sent to the German press agency is present.