Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz has launched a scathing attack on his country’s nuclear phase-out, admitting that past governments made a “serious strategic error” that has helped to drive up the cost of the power supply.
Speaking on Wednesday, January 14th at a New Year reception hosted by the Halle/Saale business association, the CDU leader said Germany could not continue indefinitely subsidising energy prices from the federal budget. His goal, he said, was to return to
acceptable market prices in energy generation.
Merz squarely blamed the decision to exit from nuclear power on previous administrations—including CDU-led governments under former chancellor Angela Merkel—as well as the subsequent “traffic-light” coalition of the Social Democrats, Greens, and Free Democrats.
The Chancellor argued that, even if the exit from nuclear had gone ahead, Germany should have kept its last remaining reactors online three years ago to preserve generating capacity.
As a result, Merz said, Germany had embarked on “the most expensive energy transition in the world,” leaving the country with insufficient power generation capacity. He claimed to know of no other nation that had made the shift to renewable energy so difficult or so costly.
The chancellor said his government was now moving quickly towards course correction. New power stations were to be built, with issuing permits close to completion and tenders expected to begin soon.
Merz added that construction could take place at former power plant sites, reusing existing grid connections—an option he said had been ruled out by the previous government.
