By Philip Piatov
New energy spat in the traffic light!
For months, Economics Minister Robert Habeck (53, Greens) deceived the population and even his own coalition partners in the nuclear debate. Habeck brushed aside arguments from in-house experts for the extension of nuclear power plants. Instead, he had ideological anti-nuclear papers written.
And the green just keeps going! This is shown by the federal government’s response to a request from the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, which is dated October 18 and has now been published.
︎ In response to the questions from the Union MPs about the effects of the nuclear power plant extension on electricity prices, the federal government explains: The extended operation of the nuclear reactors has “only a small effect” on electricity prices. The government’s justification: Electricity prices have also risen, “although the nuclear power plants are still running”. The answer therefore lies “not in the operation of nuclear power plants, but in an electricity price brake that the federal government is currently working on”.
This answer gets Habeck DOUBLE into trouble!
︎ Although the answer was given on behalf of the entire federal government, it comes from Robert Habeck’s Ministry of Economic Affairs. As BILD learned, Christian Lindner’s (43, FDP) Federal Ministry of Finance was NOT involved in the answer.
In circles at the Ministry of Finance, people were very surprised that they were not involved in the development of the answer to the important question of electricity prices and nuclear power plants.
That means: the fact that Habeck stubbornly continues to go it alone in the nuclear power plant does not go down well with Linder!
︎ Because: The answer from the Habeck Ministry was not only not agreed – according to top experts, it is also completely wrong in terms of content!
Economic expert Fuest: Habeck’s answer “technically untenable”
Economist Clemens Fuest (54), head of the Ifo Institute, says to BILD: The claims of the Ministry of Economics are “technically untenable”. Because: “The observation that electricity prices have risen despite the running nuclear power plants does not imply that the nuclear power plants are not contributing to electricity price reductions.” For Fuest it is clear: “Without the nuclear power plants, the price would have been even higher.”
Habeck and his top consultants have been trying for months to downplay the price effect of longer nuclear power plant runtimes. When Habeck, together with Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (54, Greens) had a test report on the nuclear power plant extension drawn up in March 2022, possible effects on electricity prices were simply ignored.
Expert studies came to different conclusions. Economists around Veronika Grimm (51), for example, determined that extending the service life of the three nuclear power plants could reduce electricity prices by more than 12 percent. The ifo Institute determined that the continued operation of the three nuclear power plants until April 2023 would already noticeably reduce electricity prices.