Despite the energy crisis caused by the Ukraine war, Germany wants to shut down its nuclear power plants. In the debate about extending the service life, Poland makes a provocative suggestion: “If the Germans don’t want to use their nuclear energy themselves, they should lease it out.”
If Germany shuts down its last three nuclear power plants, could Poland not lease these reactors? With this unorthodox idea, Polish politicians are interfering in the German debate about extending the service life. The eastern neighbor fears that Europe’s energy crisis, caused by Russia’s war against Ukraine, could get worse without German nuclear power. The idea first came from the small left-wing party, Lewica Razem, and then the European Committee of the Polish parliament in Warsaw debated it – even though it’s pretty clear that the initiative has no chance.
“If the Germans don’t want to use their nuclear energy themselves, they should lease it out,” demanded Razem MP Paulina Matysiak after a visit to Berlin. The Polish government should make a corresponding proposal to the federal government. German nuclear power plants should continue to run “for the benefit of Europe’s security and the climate,” wrote party leader Adrian Zandberg on Twitter.
At the end of the year, the three remaining power plants – Isar 2, Emsland and Neckarwestheim 2 – are to be taken off the grid. Poland, on the other hand, does not have a nuclear power plant. A first attempt at own nuclear energy with Soviet technology was canceled in 1989. New plans call for a power plant north of Gda?sk to go online in 2033.
“The lease is just a catchphrase,” expert Aleksander Sniegocki told the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper. “It is intended to draw attention to a problem, because of course there is not the slightest chance that Poland could lease a nuclear power plant or use it in any way.” It’s just difficult to understand German politics. The newspaper commented that “every megawatt is worth its weight in gold” at the moment. But undeterred, the Germans stuck to their old decisions, even if the circumstances had changed.
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck from the Greens, on the other hand, repeatedly points out that the main shortage is not in electricity, but in gas and heat for industry – and nuclear power plants cannot remedy this. A lot is mixed up with the Polish anger that became apparent in the committee debate: displeasure with Germany going it alone in supplying gas from Russia with the Baltic Sea pipelines Nord Stream 1 and 2, Polish concern about its own power supply on the European one Market – and also a desire to provoke in the direction of Berlin.
Of course, the proposal to lease nuclear power plants is unusual, said Razem MP Maciej Konieczny. He should illustrate what he sees as the absurd situation in Germany. At the same time, the opposition politician spoke of an “attractive offer to the governing party,” the national-conservative PiS: “Poland should agree to take over these plants in order to save the climate and energy solidarity.”
Representative Janusz Kowalski (Solidarna Polska) from the government camp, which is critical of Germany, supported the proposal. “The problem with the German political debate is very simple: they are unable to admit their mistake and back down.”
