After their electoral debacle in Lower Saxony, the liberals announced more fighting spirit within the traffic lights and immediately acted: FDP boss Lindner blocked Habeck's nuclear law in the cabinet. The reason: only two nuclear power plants are not enough.
Just one day after the elections in Lower Saxony, with the exit of the FDP from the state parliament, there is an open dispute in the federal government about the further use of nuclear energy. Contrary to the plans of Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck, the federal government has not yet given the green light for his draft law, which would enable the continued operation of two southern German nuclear power plants until spring 2023. A spokeswoman for the green-led Ministry of Economic Affairs justified this with political disagreements. "This delay is a problem if you want Isar 2 to still produce electricity in 2023," said the spokeswoman to the coalition partner.
From the department of finance minister and FDP leader Christian Lindner, it was said that the continued operation of just two power plants alone was not sufficient: "Further steps are necessary to guarantee security of supply and to expand the range of available electricity." This shakes Habeck's plan to have the two nuclear power plants Isar II and Neckarwestheim in operation as an operational reserve to stabilize the power grid and to only take the last nuclear power plant off the grid in mid-April 2023. According to current law, they would have to go offline at the end of 2022.
Lindner had insisted on leaving as many nuclear power plants on the grid. "It's not politics, it's physics," affirmed the FDP leader in the evening. The third nuclear power plant still in operation in Germany, the Emsland nuclear power plant in Lower Saxony, has not yet been taken over by Habeck and will be taken off the grid at the end of the year.
In Habeck's ministry, the delay by the FDP was criticized in an unusually clear manner. "There was a clear agreement with the coalition partners that, despite different perspectives, this draft law on the operational reserve should be brought through the cabinet this Monday so that it can be dealt with in the parliamentary process," said the ministry spokeswoman. "Due to political disagreements, however, this agreement was withdrawn." The spokeswoman underlined that the ministry wanted the southern German nuclear power plants to continue to run after the turn of the year, so that they could make a contribution to stability in the electricity system if necessary. The necessary agreements have been made with the nuclear power plant operators. However, the repairs to the Isar II nuclear power plant would have to be carried out promptly, and the nuclear power plant operators would need clarity. The ministry continues to work for solutions: "Otherwise you will be there without Isar 2 because of delays."
