The ministers of the Greens and FDP could not agree, so the chancellor of the SPD speaks a word of power: he clears the nuclear power plant question by directive competence. He sides with common sense, and rightly so.
The Chancellor has decided the matter: The last three German nuclear power plants will supply electricity until spring 2023. They could run much longer, and that would be good, but still: The solution is more sensible than anything that was previously on the table - or, in particular, the Greens had already taken off the table.
The decision gives citizens a little hope that they will get through the winter better and cheaper. More electricity is produced and less expensive, scarce gas is consumed. That should help in the end in the wallet, but it also helps the climate. Nuclear power is generated without the climate-damaging CO2.
Olaf Scholz delivers his compromise as a word of power, so much show is allowed, even if it doesn't mean much in the matter. The so-called guideline competence of a federal chancellor only goes as far as his coalition partners let him. And one thing was clear: neither the Greens nor the FDP would have dared to leave the government because of the nuclear power plants. You would have been chased to hell by voters at the first opportunity.
Nevertheless, it will be tough for the Greens. They should be good losers by now, but they're not known for that when it comes to nuclear power. Nevertheless, the SPD chancellor quickly conceded two central points of the green party congress resolution from the weekend: The two southern German nuclear power plants should produce electricity without brakes, i.e. not just stand "in reserve". And above all: The third and last nuclear power plant in Lower Saxony should also be running and delivering until spring. It will be a showdown as to whether the green leadership, led by Robert Habeck, can assert this against the old green generation. It won't help much that the other points in the chancellor's decision should still hide some things in favor of the Greens.
Olaf Scholz delivered the lead, late but clear. He has sided with common sense, and rightly so. It could never have been explained to these people, who are looking at their gas and electricity bills with great concern, why every kilowatt hour of electricity counts and is welcome this winter - but not if it comes from a safe German nuclear power plant. Stimulating against the common sense of a majority in the country would have put the governing coalition in far greater danger than a compromise ever could, in which the Greens fared less well than the FDP.
