energy crisis
Warning of the “Green Party’s ideology trap”: CSU politician Scheuer calls for the construction of three new nuclear power plants
Former Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer fears a progressive “deindustrialization of Germany”
© Peter Kneffel / DPA
Former transport minister Andreas Scheuer wants to build new nuclear power plants to overcome the energy crisis. The CSU politician warned that Germany was stuck in the “ideological trap of the Greens”.
The energy crisis has long been here and will presumably cost the citizens of Germany much more once the first bills come in. There is no shortage of suggestions on how to overcome the crisis. Former Minister of Transport Andreas Scheuer has one ready and proposes the construction of new nuclear power plants.
“My formula is three plus three plus three: three nuclear power plants have to run longer, three have to be reactivated and three have to be built from scratch,” the CSU politician told the “Welt am Sonntag”. “We need a reliable supply of energy to the economy, otherwise the deindustrialization of Germany will progress.” Germany has become the world’s supplicant and is getting deliveries for new gas in Qatar, Canada and Norway. Germany is stuck in the ideological trap of the Greens, said Scheuer.
Green party leader Ricarda Lang commented on the call for more nuclear energy on Twitter: “All of this would be at least a little less hypocritical if the CSU didn’t categorically reject a repository in Bavaria for the nuclear waste that has already been generated.”
Olaf Scholz is for longer terms
Because of the energy crisis, which has worsened as a result of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, there has been a debate for months as to whether the three remaining nuclear power plants in Germany should continue to run longer than the current legal situation provides. The operating license for the Isar 2 nuclear reactor in Bavaria should actually expire at the end of the year, as should the other two remaining reactors, Emsland in Lower Saxony and Neckarwestheim 2 in Baden-Württemberg.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) considers longer lifetimes for nuclear power plants to be possible. The SPD chairwoman Saskia Esken had said, however, that the phase-out of nuclear energy would not be revised and justified this, among other things, with high costs and open questions about nuclear waste disposal.
2011 was the decision to phase out nuclear energy
In 2011, the then federal government under Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) decided to gradually phase out nuclear energy for Germany after the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan. In the Union, the nuclear phase-out was very controversial for many years before the debate recently flared up again.