Finance Minister Christian Lindner is critical of the accelerated expansion of the energy transition. He fears that the affordability of energy and thus also German competitiveness could increasingly take a back seat. Therefore, he is also critical of a further acceleration of the expansion.
Lindner takes a critical view of affordability and competitiveness in the energy transition
At the Better Future Conference, Lindner was critical of the Greens’ efforts to push decarbonisation even faster. “I am open to this, but I already want to know what it means. My concern is that we are overdoing it, that the idea of competitiveness and also the affordability of energy is also being pushed too far into the background,” Lindner said in an interview with Die Welt.
Image: Olaf Kosinsky, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons
Government must also seek coal, oil and gas
Particularly with regard to the competitiveness of the German economy, Lindner warns against overly ambitious targets and timetables. That is why it is also important that Germany continues its parallel efforts to import coal, oil and gas. This is important in order to secure the energy supply in the long term.
Lindner open to discussion on lifetime extension for nuclear power plants
However, Lindner is also critical of an extension of the operating times for the last remaining nuclear power plants. He said that although this should be discussed, he himself doubted that nuclear power in Germany could make a contribution to energy security. Ultimately, Germany is completely dependent on foreign countries for fuel for its nuclear power plants. However, Lindner is open to a corresponding discussion, which has already been initiated by North Rhine-Westphalia’s Minister President Hendrik Wüst. “If the responsible Minister of Economics, who after all has the expertise and knowledge in his ministry, proposes this, it will not fail with the Minister of Finance,” Lindner said. It is common knowledge, however, that the aforementioned ministers are likely to remain loyal to the ideological nuclear phase-out. In a report to this effect, both ministries have ruled out a continuation of nuclear power plants. Leading experts, however, have already complained that they were not even consulted about this.
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