Since 2017, the SPD and CDU have been governing quite quietly in Lower Saxony. But shortly before the state elections, there are dissonances – for example on the subject of nuclear power. In the TV duel between the two top candidates, however, challenger Althusmann prefers to stir things up against the federal government than against the father of the country.
A good one and a half weeks before the state elections in Lower Saxony, SPD Prime Minister Stephan Weil and Deputy Prime Minister Bernd Althusmann fought a television duel on Tuesday evening that was all about the current energy and inflation crisis. On the North German Broadcasting Corporation (NDR), the top candidates from the SPD and CDU each campaigned for their own proposals for an energy price cap. They took opposite views on the question of the continued operation of the Lingen nuclear power plant.
According to all available expert assessments, the nuclear power plant in Emsland, Lower Saxony, is “not needed” for the state’s security of supply, said Weil during the TV duel broadcast live from Hildesheim. Among other things, a lot of natural gas is imported into Lower Saxony from the Netherlands and Norway, which are safe countries of origin. The situation is different for the southern German reactors Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim.
Althusmann stressed that he represented a “decidedly different view” on this issue. The continued operation of all three nuclear power plants still in operation in Germany is “absolutely necessary”. Too much gas is being generated in Germany. The policy of the federal government made up of SPD, Greens and FDP is a “complete failure” when it comes to dealing with the German reactors.
At the same time, Weil campaigned for a state-owned aid package to relieve households, companies and social institutions amounting to almost one billion euros, which he had announced in the event of an election victory. Althusmann spoke of an election campaign maneuver that was “transparent”. At the same time, he criticized the federal government: you had to say how you wanted to relieve people. Only then could the federal states set up supplementary programmes.
A new state parliament will be elected in Lower Saxony on Sunday next week. The election campaign will largely be dominated by debates about the current energy price crisis. The SPD and CDU have governed Hanover together in a grand coalition since 2017. In the polls, the SPD is currently leading with values ??between 31 and 32 percent ahead of the CDU, which achieves 28 percent.
According to polls, the Greens are 17 to 19 percent, the AfD reaches seven to nine percent. The FDP fluctuates between five and seven percent, the left would again miss entry into the Lower Saxony state parliament with four percent.
