Hanover: dispute over nuclear power and energy costs in the state parliament
Hanover
Dispute over nuclear power and energy costs in the state parliament
The last week of the state parliament before the Lower Saxony election begins with an exchange of blows about the energy crisis. As Economics Minister, CDU top candidate Althusmann is attacking the federal traffic lights. The Greens and FDP, on the other hand, miss initiatives by the SPD/CDU state government.
In a debate shaped by the election campaign, Lower Saxony’s state parliamentarians argued about ways out of the energy crisis. While the CDU and FDP campaigned to also rely on nuclear power, the SPD and Greens warn against a significant extension of nuclear power plant operation. Economics Minister Bernd Althusmann (CDU), who will become the new Prime Minister in the October 9 election, also called on the federal traffic light coalition on Wednesday to implement an aid program for medium-sized companies.
In the debate on nuclear power, Energy Minister Olaf Lies (SPD) emphasized that continued operation would have little impact on electricity prices. “You are running the uprising that you are running here in order to get from 40 cents to 39.6 cents. We need other solutions in Germany to get the energy crisis under control,” he said of the demand, the three remaining Germans Nuclear power plants, including the one in Lingen in Lower Saxony, will run beyond 2022.
Economics Minister Althusmann from the CDU said: “We have to use this nuclear power now.” Germany will have to import nuclear power from France or possibly Ukraine from the fall.
FDP parliamentary group leader Stefan Birkner accused the SPD and Greens of “ideological blockade” on the nuclear issue. He is in favor of also ordering new fuel elements for the nuclear power plants. Green MP Miriam Staudte replied that Birkner should be honest and say “that you think it’s perfectly fine to throw money at Putin for the uranium”.
In the event of power shortages, Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) wants to be able to use two of the three remaining German nuclear power plants until April. The Isar 2 nuclear power plant in Bavaria and Neckarwestheim in Baden-Württemberg should be available in reserve for this purpose by mid-April 2023. This should not apply to the nuclear power plant in Lingen, Lower Saxony, because its contribution to the energy supply to the two southern German power plants is too small.
Economics Minister Althusmann also appealed to the traffic lights from the SPD, Greens and FDP in the federal government to quickly implement further relief. To date, for example, the federal government has not yet presented a specific program for medium-sized companies. “I think that’s negligent,” criticized the CDU politician.
Althusmann said that “all available kilowatts from coal, gas, renewable energy and nuclear power plants” would have to be used to lower energy prices. “People now need a noticeable relief, a reduction in energy prices. We don’t need an announcement.”
After the election, the state will also have to issue a supplementary budget to close gaps in the federal relief programs – “no matter who governs the state,” said this CDU politician.
The opposition from the Greens and FDP criticized the fact that the state government is not launching its own aid programs, but is adjourning it until after the election. The Greens proposed using around 2.8 billion euros from the Corona special fund in the energy crisis. The other parliamentary groups saw this as an election campaign, also because of constitutional concerns.
The Greens parliamentary group leader Julia Willie Hamburg vehemently defended the traffic light in the federal government. “It’s Olaf Scholz, Robert Habeck and Christian Lindner who are currently working together to counter Putin and keep this society together and bring it safely through the winter and the coming years,” she said.
The state parliament in Lower Saxony will be re-elected on October 9th. A continuation of the coalition of SPD and CDU is considered unlikely. In the most recent polls, the SPD minister, Stephan Weil, was just ahead of the CDU with challenger Althusmann.
Agenda (pdf)