Part of the choreography is foreseeable when Markus Söder and Winfried Kretschmann meet in public, like now again at the SZ Sustainability Summit. The states they lead, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, are both large, have strong industry, successful universities, and a conservative attitude, so they are very similar. Or as Söder says: “We are the southern rail.” And because you get along so well now – the 55-year-old CSUer and the 74-year-old Green – you want to further intensify the cooperation.
Kretschmann and Söder have been saying this over and over again since they met at the Protestant Church Congress in Dortmund in 2019. It is also always clear: Söder is a little bit nastier or funnier, depending on your mood.
Why would one be prime minister of the other federal state? One can answer like Kretschmann: “The Bavarians have a higher tax capacity.” But you can also handle it like Söder. He’s struggling for an answer, of course, he doesn’t want to give up a point like that. And didn’t he once say, most recently in the unsuccessful race for the Union’s chancellor candidacy, that there was no better job as Prime Minister of Bavaria? “Nice country,” Söder finally remembers, “but smaller.” In general, as head of government in Baden-Württemberg, “I would have to form a coalition with the CDU, that would be exhausting”.
The point goes to Söder, to be expected. He grins. There has to be a little fun, gladly at the expense of the Swabians and Baden, even in these troubled times. And the times are really very restless and difficult, both are very much in agreement. There is the toughness and slowness in the country, especially in the bureaucracy and the legal systems. 20, 30, 40 years for building permits – both politicians have good examples of administrative madness and German expert culture ready. The railways are suffering from this, but so is the development of renewable energies. Which leads to the biggest problem at the moment: “I think at the moment that the gas supply is not secured,” says Söder. “It’s a lot worse than people think.” In addition, there is the planned end for the last three nuclear power plants. The resulting energy costs could lead to “a heart attack for the economy” in a few months. The negotiations about alternatives to Russian gas are important, said Söder, but the agreements – for example with Qatar from 2024 – “would not be enough for us in winter”.
For a part of the population it is true that the lack of energy will “perhaps fundamentally change their lives”. That’s why you have to use “everything that’s possible” when it comes to energy, and from his point of view this also includes the three remaining nuclear power plants in Germany: they should remain in operation at least over the winter. For the Isar 2 nuclear power plant in Landshut, Bavaria, the responsible TÜV Süddeutschland has already submitted a positive report: It is possible to let the plant continue to run “until spring”. He doesn’t understand the objections. Because the answers offered so far by federal politicians – save energy and take cold showers – are not convincing for the population.
The federal government already examined the potential contribution of longer nuclear power lifetimes in the spring, but then quickly rejected it. In addition to extensive safety tests, this would also require new fuels, which cannot be obtained quickly. The tactician Söder should be very aware that the topic would not be easy for the Greens.
So other solutions are needed – because the crisis is here, and how. He doesn’t want to “overdramatize,” says his Baden-Württemberg colleague Kretschmann. But he also thinks it is important to present the energy supply situation transparently: “And it’s a drama.” If gas is missing, so-called process energy is quickly missing for many industries, which has an impact “very quickly” on the supply chains of other industries, millions of jobs are affected.
Kretschmann warns that it is now time for the federal government to consider: “Which industries are served?” Deciding that is a “highly explosive challenge”. When it comes to the question of extending the lifetime of the nuclear power plant, Kretschmann is still very reluctant: He had the same impulse as Söder, but Economics Minister Robert Habeck explained to him that the “security architecture” opposed an extension, according to Kretschmann, in whose state there is still a nuclear power plant . A contradiction to the positive TÜV report from Bavaria?
Might be. But Kretschmann doesn’t want to think about it any further now. “Markus, with all due respect,” he says. At some point things will be decided. In addition, there is “a gas shortage, not an electricity shortage,” the Prime Minister from Baden-Württemberg tries to appease – who nevertheless calls for savings with a specific proposal: a speed limit limited to two years “would have an immediate effect”.
Söder doesn’t want to go there, south rail or not. But because he doesn’t want to look too nasty, there is still a concession from Upper Bavaria, and he thought about it for a long time: “If I weren’t prime minister in Bavaria, then in Baden-Württemberg.”