Bundestag - U-committee on nuclear phase-out gets started
Going through the German decisions on Germany's nuclear exit, are all things being done correctly? To check this, a parliamentary investigative committee has commenced its work. The members' task is to "deal with the state decision-making processes for adapting the national energy supply to the changed supply situations due to the war in Ukraine," said Parliament President Bärbel Bas at the beginning of the first committee meeting in the evening.
It needs to be clarified which information formed the basis of the decisions and which national, foreign, or international entities were involved. "Was a longer continuation of the nuclear power plants that are still running in 2022 in fact thoroughly examined?" This is what the committee aims to focus on, according to Bas. It covers German energy policy since February 24, 2022 - the beginning of the Russian attack on Ukraine.
The Union faction requested the investigative committee in mid-June, and the Bundestag gave its approval in the afternoon with the votes of the Union and AfD. A quarter of the deputies provided the necessary support.
Focus on Ministers Habeck and Lemke
The focus of the investigation is also on Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke and Federal Economic Minister Robert Habeck (both Greens). The CDU/CSU accuses them of not thoroughly and impartially examining the continued operation of German nuclear power plants.
"There is a pressing suspicion that the public was deliberately misled by Ministers Habeck and Lemke, and we want to clarify this," said CDU politician Stefan Heck to the German Press Agency just before the meeting. He was elected chairman of the committee. Lemke and Habeck deny the allegations.
What led to the renewed debate on nuclear phase-out
Due to the energy crisis caused by the war, the German government decided to keep the last three reactors running for a few more months than originally planned. The German nuclear phase-out was therefore shifted from December 31, 2022, to April 15, 2023. The duration of the continued operation of the power plants and the final decision on the nuclear phase-out caused heated debates and disagreements both in the government and the opposition.
The Greens had long opposed any extension of operating life, but eventually supported the concept of a temporary reserve for two of the three last reactors presented by Habeck and the nuclear power plant operators in September 2022. The FDP had advocated for a phase-out beyond April 2023. In October 2022, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) then issued a statement that led to the continued operation of all three reactors until at least the spring of 2023.
Was there an unbiased examination of the continued operation?
The Union's doubts about decision-making on the continued operation are based on a report that appeared in the magazine "Cicero" a few weeks ago. It is claimed that in the spring of 2022, internal objections to the originally planned nuclear phase-out at the end of 2022 were suppressed in both the Economic and Environment Ministries. Both ministries deny this.
In the union application for the convening of the investigative committee, it is stated that Habeck had agreed to a pending examination of a possible continuation of nuclear power plants on February 27, 2022. On March 1 of the same year, he announced an examination in which "there would be no taboos." Shortly thereafter, on March 7, 2022, Habeck's and Lemke's ministries published a joint "examination note" and rejected the continuation, among other reasons, for safety reasons.
It cannot be ruled out that "technical expertise had to yield to political and party-political directives," the application states. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify whether the examinations promised by Habeck for the extension of the operating licenses took place and whether "critical voices were systematically suppressed," said CSU Bundestag member and energy politician Andreas Lenz.
Lemke is not concerned
Environment Minister Lemke told the dpa that she would "approach the committee calmly." "Setting up investigative committees is the right of the opposition," she emphasized. Her ministry had "from the beginning answered all questions of the parliament and the public transparently." The facts are on the table, Lemke said.
Habeck had assured after a hearing in April: "For me, supply security was an absolute priority, and the entire house worked without thinking restrictions, of course always on the basis of facts, data, and also of legal norms."
Investigative committees "sharpest weapon of the opposition"
The committee on nuclear phase-out is the second investigative committee in the current legislative period, besides the committee on the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. Investigative committees are considered the "sharpest weapon of the opposition." To set one up, at least one quarter of all members of the Bundestag must agree. With 195 of 733 MPs, the Union fraction would have met the requirement without the support of the AfD.
The chairman of the committee, Heck, assumes that the first witnesses in the new committee will probably be questioned in September after the parliamentary summer break. The Environment Minister and the Economic Minister will then have to appear before the committee as witnesses and respond.
- The parliamentary investigation committee is tasked with examining the decision-making processes related to Germany's energy supply adjustment due to the Ukraine war.
- The Federal Government's decisions on nuclear phase-out are under scrutiny, specifically the examination of continuing the operation of nuclear power plants in 2022.
- The CDU accuses Robert Habeck and Steffi Lemke, both ministers in the Federal Government, of not thoroughly examining the continued operation of nuclear power plants.
- The focus of the investigation committee includes the German Energy Policy since February 24, 2022, when the Russian attack on Ukraine began.
- The Union parliamentary group initiated the investigative committee in mid-June, with the necessary support from a quarter of the Bundestag deputies, which included votes from the CDU, CSU, and AfD.
- Steffi Lemke, the Federal Environment Minister, remains calm about the committee, emphasizing that her ministry has answered all questions transparently.
- Andreas Lenz, a CSU Bundestag member and energy politician, raises concerns that technical expertise may have yielded to political and party-political directives.
- The German Press Agency reports that the CDU politician Stefan Heck, elected chairman of the committee, accused Ministers Habeck and Lemke of deliberately misleading the public.
- Due to the energy crisis caused by the war, the operation of the last three nuclear reactors was extended, shifting the nuclear phase-out from December 31, 2022, to April 15, 2023.
- The investigation committee aims to focus on the state decision-making processes for adapting the national energy supply, as directed by Parliament President Bärbel Bas, with a focus on the Union parliamentary group's concerns.
