After the dispute over the ban on combustion engines and e-fuels, the next European political conflict in the traffic light coalition is on the horizon. This time it’s about EU subsidies for nuclear power.
Germany is phasing out nuclear energy and in Brussels refuses to define it as a green technology. Nevertheless, the Federal Republic will co-finance nuclear power in other member states through its high contribution to the EU budget. This causes resentment in circles of the FDP.
Last week, the EU Commission presented an industrial plan that is part of the Green Deal. The so-called Net Zero Industry Act aims to strengthen green industries in Europe against competitors in China and elsewhere.
The authority counts photovoltaics, wind power and heat pumps among the technologies funded with up to 400 billion euros. However, nuclear power can also be financed. France and other EU countries would then receive additional money from Brussels for innovative nuclear technologies.
The annex to the draft law states that “nuclear power generation technologies with minimal fuel cycle waste and small modular reactors” are zero-emissions within the meaning of the regulation.
This means that nuclear energy – unlike solar or wind, for example – is not recognized as one of the “strategic zero-emission technologies” for which there should be a whole range of simplifications.
However, financial support will still be possible. French President Emmanuel Macron has at least partially prevailed. He wants to put billions into a whole series of small modular reactors (SMR) in the coming years.
Germany carries around a quarter of the EU budget and is expected to transfer 38.7 billion euros to Brussels this year. The Federal Republic has a share of the same magnitude in the EU reconstruction fund, from which money is also to flow for the green industrial strategy.
The FDP in the Bundestag does not want to support this constellation. “We use German tax money to promote a technology that we reject for our country,” says Gerald Ullrich, who sits on the economic committee for the party.
“In this way we enable our neighboring countries to buy cheap nuclear power, which we may then have to buy from them. We ourselves, on the other hand, will shut down nuclear power at the end of April.”
The MP is therefore calling on the federal government to start a new discussion about modern nuclear technology. “If we know that nuclear power will continue to play a role in other industrialized countries, we in Germany should not close our minds to this technology,” says Ullrich.
“I call for a new debate on nuclear power research, also within the government. We must not intentionally damage Germany’s competitiveness by excluding an energy source of the future across the board.”
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