An the end, the dispute over the temporary continued operation of nuclear power plants (NPP) rhetorically boils down to a curious comparison. “We’ve got a belt on, we’ve got suspenders on, we’re hanging another pair of suspenders in the closet,” exclaims Jurgen Trittin. “That is indeed clever.” For weeks, Trittin had railed against any lifetime extension beyond December 31, the official date of the nuclear phase-out. And now he’s on the stage at the Greens party conference in Bonn, promoting the federal executive committee’s proposal that the two nuclear power plants in southern Germany be allowed to continue operating until April 15 if there is a risk to grid stability.
The green praise themselves for their culture of debate. But when a vote could get tight, the party leadership has devised a tactic to work things out on their behalf. When Trittin, the figurehead of the anti-nuclear movement, speaks for emergency operation, the majority stands. Trittin is not considered to have fallen over because he himself made seven amendments. For example, he wanted to have the sentence added: “We clearly reject calls for further extensions of the term.” The application committee integrated all or part of its points into the application of the federal executive board, so that it now also bore Trittin’s handwriting.
To be on the safe side, Trittin ends with a bit of CSU bashing. Something like that pulls at green party conferences. He describes the understanding of energy policy “south of the Main line” as follows: “We don’t want any renewables, we don’t want any new power lines, but we also want to snow the Alps every winter, even when temperatures are above zero, so that we can then take people up there with electric lifts to ski.” drive.” Loud applause – and briefly the majority stands for the emergency reserve.
For the Greens, nuclear power has a lot to do with identity. Robert Habeck, the economy minister, describes the fight against nuclear power as one of the reasons why he and many others ended up in this party. When the result of the second stress test was available at the beginning of September, Habeck actually wanted to order the stretching operation because the problems at French nuclear power plants could pose a risk to grid stability. But the parliamentary group signaled that they would not go down this path. This is how the idea of an emergency reserve came up to build a bridge for opponents of nuclear power. Formally, the nuclear phase-out at the end of August will remain the same, even if Habeck has meanwhile signaled that he will activate the reserve.
Karl-Wilhelm Koch from the Vulkaneifel, a notorious applicant who is part of the inventory of green party congresses, does not trust the matter. “Get out of the egress, not again,” he shouted. “Now it’s April 15th. Who guarantees us this date?” He submitted a motion of his own, it is the only motion that has not been integrated or otherwise negotiated away. “Not a day longer – switch off all nuclear power plants,” that is his demand. A few dozen Greens have signed. Also in front of the hall on the United Nations square in Bonn Many demonstrators like Karl-Wilhelm Koch see it, the anti-nuclear sun laughs from their posters. But at the party congress he is far from a majority.
This is also due to the fact that the Greens not only sent Trittin and Habeck into the race against Koch, but also Ricarda Lang, the party leader from the left wing, and Steffi Lemke, Federal Environment Minister and just as credible an opponent of nuclear power plants as Trittin. Both speeches follow the same dramaturgy. In the first part, the nuclear power plants demonized. “We see in France that nuclear power is failing across the board,” says Lang. Being against nuclear power is a “question of political common sense.” Lembke talks about the high-risk technology, about the fact that there is still no repository. “How can you pretend that nuclear power is sustainable?” she exclaims. “The nuclear lobby is not concerned with the energy crisis, but with preventing the expansion of renewable energies.”
Surprise in the second part of the speech
The flaming anti-nuclear speeches have a shorter second part, which follows somewhat abruptly: the emergency reserve is justifiable despite everything, a compromise that one can live with. But clearly also the extreme that the party is willing to do: Not a day longer than April 15th, the third nuclear power plant in Emsland must go offline by December 31st and, above all, new fuel rods must not be procured under any circumstances. Not a single one of the several hundred motions and amendments calls this position into question.
In Bonn it is about taking all the Greens with you. It’s never easy, and it’s particularly difficult when it comes to this topic. But it doesn’t matter at all that the Greens don’t govern alone or only with the SPD, but also with the FDP. And it insists on the position that all three nuclear power plants should remain online until the end of 2024. “If you know where you stand, where you want to go, you can open your arms and be generous,” Habeck said on Friday afternoon. From the green point of view, the emergency reserve is already an impertinence, from the point of view of the FPD it is not a particularly generous offer. The Greens have not built a bridge for their coalition partner in Bonn, but have cemented their red line with their decision. In any case, the Green Ministers and the parliamentary group will not be able to deviate from this in the near future. The Greens have found their answer to the nuclear issue. It remains unclear whether there is also an answer from the traffic light.