German greens accused of lying

GREEN party ministers in Germany have been accused of lying about safety issues at the country’s nuclear power plants to ensure they were shut down, even as the war in Ukraine threatened European energy supplies.

A German media outlet has accused Green ministers in the country’s coalition government of covering up key technical reports that suggested keeping the nuclear plants open would have lessened the country’s energy squeeze in 2022.

The magazine Cicero claimed Patrick Graichen and Stefan Tidow, junior Green ministers at the economy and environment ministries respectively, rewrote the documents to falsely suggest retaining the power stations was “not tenable” on technical or security grounds.

Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, subsequently ordered the operation of the plants to be extended by three months to April 2023 but after that point they were shut down as previously planned. Russia’s invasion two years ago sent gas, coal and electricity prices rocketing, triggering a major crisis as markets panicked about the prospect of Moscow shutting off gas supplies to the Continent altogether.

At the time, Germany’s decision to push ahead with the shutdown of its last nuclear power stations – leaving it even more reliant on gas and coal – was branded “madness” by critics. However, Green ministers, who were partners in the coalition under Mr Scholz, continued to insist that keeping the nuclear plants open would be dan- gerous and irresponsible.

The Cicero report has triggered calls for transparency and potential investigations by members of the German Bundestag, as well as calls for the resignation of economy minister Robert Habeck, co-leader of the Greens.

The Germany economics ministry said that decisions were based on “information available at the time”.

The closure policy dates back to 2011, when ex-chancellor Angela Merkel passed laws mandating the gradual shutdown of all nuclear plants following the Fukushima disaster in Japan.