Failed nuclear power plant permit
Former Environment Minister Klaudia Martini is dead
Updated on December 28, 2024Reading time: 2 min.
She was the longest-serving environment minister, but also fought against BSE: Klaudia Martini died at the age of 74.
Klaudia Martini, the first SPD environment minister in Rhineland-Palatinate, is dead. The lawyer died in a hospital on December 20th at the age of 74, as the German Press Agency learned from those close to her. “The work and vision of Klaudia Martini will not be forgotten,” said Prime Minister Alexander Schweitzer (SPD).
Martini was Environment Minister for ten years, initially in the cabinet of Rudolf Scharping (SPD) in 1991. From 1994 onwards she was also responsible for forestry under Kurt Beck (SPD). She was the first woman to hold this position in Rhineland-Palatinate. Before moving to Mainz, the Upper Palatinate native was a member of the state parliament in Bavaria and a judge at the administrative courts in Augsburg and Munich.
In 1993, as Environment Minister, she denied a permanent operating license to the Mülheim-Kärlich nuclear power plant near Koblenz, which was not adequately protected against earthquakes, as the first nuclear power plant in Germany. Martini had her greatest political success when her proposal to include the decommissioned nuclear power plant in the nuclear consensus was taken up and Mülheim-Kärlich was finally taken off the grid.
In 1994, Martini became a pioneer in the fight against the BSE cattle disease, imposed an import ban on British beef and took on the then Federal Health Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU).
However, Green politicians also accused her of industry-friendly policies, among other things because she later vehemently opposed the can deposit propagated by then Federal Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin (Greens).
Schweitzer and the current Environment Minister Katrin Eder (Greens) praised Martini as “a smart manager with a heart who initiated developments in the Environment Ministry from which we still benefit today.”
In 2001, Martini moved from the Ministry of the Environment to the car manufacturer Opel in Rüsselsheim, Hesse. She took over the board position for corporate communications – as the only woman on the board. After three years, she left the position at her own request and after criticism from the company.
The top lawyer then worked again as a lawyer, most recently in a Munich law firm. In recent years she has lived in Bad Wiessee, where she was also active as a local councilor for several years.