Germany’s decision to shut down its remaining nuclear power plants is a “strategic mistake”, the head of one of the coalition ruling parties has said.
Bijan Djir-Sarai, the Secretary General of the c0-ruling Free Democratic Party (FDP), has warned that the country’s decision to shut down its last few nuclear power plants this month is a “strategic mistake”.
The party has repeatedly warned that the decision to shut down Germany’s last three nuclear plants will leave the country extremely vulnerable energy-wise over the coming months.
Such warnings have been repeatedly ignored and played down by the FDP’s coalition partners, with both the Social Democratic Party and the Greens adamant that the use of nuclear power must be completely terminated in the country.
According to a report by Der Spiegel, Djir-Sarai has once again warned on behalf of the FDP that the nuclear shutdown is a very bad idea less than two weeks away from when the last three stations are set to be shut down.
Such a winding down was described by the Secretary-General as “a strategic mistake in a still tense energy policy situation” that would only end up limiting the country’s ability to deal with power shortages and climate change.
He went on to urge that the use of the plants be extended yet again, describing the continued operation of the plants as being “useful” to Germany.
It would not be the first time the use of the three nuclear plants was extended.
Originally scheduled to be shut down forever by the end of last year, the German government came under sustained pressure from politicians and activists at home and abroad who saw the planned terminations as madness during a period of immense energy shortages.
Even arch-Environmntalist Greta Thunberg jumped on the bandwagon, telling the German government it would be a “mistake” to turn off the existing nuclear plants as it would only make the country more reliant on coal.
Despite continued frothing at the mouth from the country’s Green party, Chancellor Olaf Scholz eventually bowed to the pressure, agreeing to extend the use of the plants until April 15 this year.
Securing a further extension however seems extremely unlikely, with ruling Green officials insisting that the plants will not operate a day after their planned shutdown date.
“The nuclear phase-out in mid-April will remain,” Green Environment Minister Steffi Lemke previously said, justifying such a position by saying that the “risks” posed by the technology are “ultimately unmanageable”.