U-turn in Germany, where the government returned Monday, September 5 to the final closure of the last nuclear power plants, initially scheduled for the end of 2022 according to the timetable decided by Angela Merkel after the Fukushima disaster in 2011. Two of the three German power plants will remain thus “reserved“until spring 2023, indicates the daily The time.
And “stress test” for the security of electricity supply has shown that these reactors could make it possible to avoid power outages in certain critical scenarios. “It is certainly very unlikely that the electricity system will experience crisis situations […] but it cannot be totally ruled out at the moment”, justified the Ecologist Minister of the Economy, Robert Habeck, with a caution intended to spare his own camp, historically opposed to nuclear power. However, the government does not intend to reverse the long-term policy decided by its predecessors. For the Minister, the atom remains “a high-risk technology”and it should not be “risk everything unnecessarily”.
Within the government coalition, however, not everyone hears it that way. The leader of the Liberal Party FDP and Federal Minister of Finance, Christian Lindner, for his part calls for the continued operation of the three nuclear power plants until at least 2024. “In these times, all possibilities must be used to reduce the price of electricity for individuals and businesses”, he told the Southgerman newspaper. Will the black-red-green coalition successfully pass what Lindner describes as “economic policy stress test” ?
Robert Habeck, “one of Germany’s most popular politicians”, remind him New York Times, “even though he led his party to sacrifice almost all of its sacred cows” because of the crisis, in any case categorically rejected the idea that keeping two reactors on standby was “a back door”. “That would be absurd”he said. “This technology is part of the problem – just look at France.”
Under pressure, France in search of energy sobriety
EDF is indeed “in trouble with its nuclear power plants”, euphemised the economic information site Bloombergwho observes that “electricity prices in France for the start of next year are around 30% higher than in Germany”. With 32 of its 56 reactors shut down for planned renovations or due to observed corrosion, the country “usually a large electricity exporter at peak times”, will have to import part of its electricity this year – which is weighing on prices throughout Europe.
On Monday, Emmanuel Macron pleaded for France to significantly reduce its energy consumption over the coming weeks, in order to avoid rationing and cuts this winter. The French president thus aims “a 10% reduction in household and business consumption”, reports the American economic news channel Fox Business. However, “in case” these efforts would not be enough, energy rationing plans are being prepared, Macron told a press conference, adding that “cuts will happen as a last resort”.
Speaking after a videoconference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose views he claims to share, Macron also announced “a plan to increase gas supplies to Germany from France to compensate for a drop in Russian supplies”. In exchange, Germany “will supply electricity to France to compensate for shortages” caused by the ongoing maintenance of French reactors, specifies Fox Business. Give and take.