By KUNA,
Berlin : A fierce debate over the phase-out of nuclear energy use in Germany is threatening the coalition government consisting of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and their partners, the Social Democrats (SPD). In a press conference held on Tuesday, government spokesman Thomas Steg tried to play down the rift between both coalition parties on the issue by saying the federal government was committed to stick to all agreements as being laid out in the coalition contract, at least until the end of the current session, which ends in the fall of next year. So far, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s left-right coalition government has stuck with the decision to phase out Germany’s 17 nuclear power plants by 2021.
Merkel’s coalition partners, the Social Democrats, have fiercely defended the shutdown plan agreed by the previous government, which they led in a coalition with the Greens. Merkel’s party opposes abandoning nuclear energy but agreed to keep the plan when the coalition was formed in 2005. However, the plan has caused repeated political friction and it is widely expected that the dispute over nuclear power will be a major issue in next year’s general election. In view of soaring oil prices, the question of nuclear energy in Germany no longer seems to be a closed chapter.
Opposition to nuclear power is still strong in Germany, but it is weakening. An opinion poll commissioned by German public broadcaster ARD and released this month found that 51 percent wanted the nation to continue along the path to phasing out nuclear energy. But 44 percent of those polled by the pollsters Infratest dimap wanted reconsideration. This represented an increase of 8 percent since December 2007.
Sensing a shift in the public mood in Germany about extending the life of the nation’s remaining 17 nuclear reactors, Merkel and her supporters have attempted to fire up a fresh campaign for a German rethink on phasing out atomic power in the country. Germany’s conservative Research Minister Annette Schavan for instance says the nation should stop phasing out its nuclear power stations and even consider one day building new ones.
While the conservatives are increasingly demanding that Germany abandons the scheduled nuclear energy phase-out, the Social Democrats strongly reject this idea.
SPD parliamentary leader Peter Struck told the German daily Der Tagesspiegel that extending nuclear plants’ life would be “irresponsible so long as the question of disposing of highly radioactive waste is not resolved.