Germany’s Nuclear Extension Threatened by Coalition Standoff

(Bloomberg) -- Mounting tensions within German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition are threatening to jettison a plan to tap the country’s remaining nuclear power reserves and stave off energy shortages over the winter.

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Finance Minister Christian Lindner blocked a draft proposal introduced by Economy Minister Robert Habeck to prepare two of Germany’s three remaining nuclear plans for an extension through April. Lindner wants all three to run until 2024.

“There is need for further discussion,” Lindner told reporters during a visit to Washington for the International Monetary Fund’s annual meeting.

The standoff in Germany’s three-party coalition throws into jeopardy an emergency plan to extend nuclear power to grapple with the region’s gravest energy crisis in decades, Habeck said. Scholz’s cabinet needs to sign off by the end of the week because one of the plants needs to undergo maintenance -- and missing the deadline could scupper the extension, the minister argues.

Even as Scholz insists that his coalition will come to an agreement, the three parties -- Scholz’s Social Democrats, Habeck’s Greens and Lindner’s Free Democrats -- have little time to resolve the energy dispute. Parliament needs to push legislation through by Oct. 21 in order to give EON SE’s Isar 2 plant enough time to schedule maintenance.

Politics plays a role. Habeck struggled to get a months-long extension past his Green allies, who largely embrace shuttering all plants by the end of this year in line with Germany’s nuclear exit plan. Lindner, of the pro-business Free Democrats, has doubled down on his support for nuclear power after his party suffered a defeat in a state election on Sunday.

Habeck’s extension plan involves allowing Isar-2 and EnBW AG’s Neckarwestheim-2 plants, both located in southern Germany, to continue running for an additional 3 1/2 months rather than the end of the year.

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