Scholz brushed off criticism from the conservative opposition alliance and at least one leading economist, who described his coalition’s decision to keep two remaining reactors on emergency standby rather than let them generate electricity as “madness”, while the government refuses to overturn a timetable for closing the last remaining factories. Criticism of the nuclear roadmap also comes from within Scholz’s government. His coalition partner, the pro-business FDP, has urged Scholz to overturn the 2011 nuclear power ban that Angela Merkel introduced in response to the Fukushima disaster. In a heated parliamentary debate on Wednesday morning, Soltz defended his government’s strategy for dealing with the energy crisis. Facing heavy criticism from the opposition, he said his government was dealing with problems created by the previous government under Merkel – in which he served. The crisis, triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has been exacerbated in recent weeks by a reduction in gas supplies from Moscow to Germany, which was followed a week ago by a complete cut-off. Moscow cited maintenance issues linked to sanctions imposed by the West. Scholz accused Friedrich Merz’s conservative coalition (CDU/CSU) of refusing to take responsibility for its role in the crisis, calling it “the party that bears full responsibility for the fact that Germany made decisions to withdraw both from coal as well as atomic energy, but I never had the strength to go into anything else.’ He also accused the Conservatives of failing to embrace renewable energy and actively campaigning against it. “You have been unable to bring about the expansion of renewable energy. You fought defensive battles against every wind turbine,” he said. Now trying to save as much natural gas, electricity and oil as possible before winter sets in – in part by building LNG terminals and expanding renewables – Scholz said his government was “solving problems that the union failed to address. recognized as such when in power”. Scholz said Germans would “rise above themselves” and face the coming winter “with boldness and bravery” and said Germany was close to its goal of becoming independent of Russian gas exports. Natural gas storage facilities were 86% full on Wednesday. Merz accused Scholz’s economy minister, Robert Habeck, of “harassing environmental lobbyists” and squandering an opportunity to find solutions to the energy crisis by seeking what he called a “lazy compromise” by refusing to allow Germany’s three remaining nuclear power plants to continue their operation. for the next two to three years. On Monday Habeck had announced that two of them would remain “on standby” with the support of necessary personnel, equipment and security, but would not generate electricity unless needed. Mertz said the decision was irresponsible, arguing that continuing to operate the plants would help secure energy supplies and that increased electricity production would help control the market price. “The ignorance you show on this matter is written all over your face,” he told Habeck, calling the last existing nuclear power plants “the most modern and safest reactors in the world.” In Wednesday’s Bundestag debate, Alice Weidel, co-leader of the far-right AfD, accused the government of leading Germany to economic disaster with its policies, including a €65bn (£56bn) package announced on Sunday, with aimed at easing household finances. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. “You have every reason to fear a warm fall and winter,” she said, referring to figures on the right and left who have called for protests against the high cost of living. He said people had “every right” to take to the streets. Amira Mohamed Ali, parliamentary leader of the far-left Die Linke, accused the coalition government of having “no social conscience”. He urged the administration to reach out to Russia in an effort to bring it to the negotiating table and end its hostilities in Ukraine. The instability of nuclear power is one of the main reasons we don’t rely on it, the finance ministry argued when it unveiled its plans on Monday. Currently, only 28 of France’s 56 factories are on the grid, partly because of a cooling water shortage linked to this summer’s drought, which has meant Germany has had to supply its neighbor with electricity.
