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On Sunday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivered a much more pragmatic speech in the Bundestag than Russian President Vladimir Putin’s incoherent war speeches. Mr Scholz announced sweeping changes to Germany’s energy and defense policy and received a standing ovation for it.
The war in Ukraine is causing a multitude of geopolitical changes at breakneck speed. In the past 48 hours, all sorts of scenarios that seemed almost unthinkable a few days ago have been unleashed one after another. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced that she wants to bring Ukraine into the EU; Russia has put its nuclear weapons on high alert, and EU Member States have openly supplied arms to the Ukrainians. Sweden, in particular, stood out, as it had not armed another country since the Soviet invasion of Finland in 1939.
But Germany’s volte-face is perhaps even more abrupt. Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke of a “Zeitenwende”, or turning point, in the attitude of Germany and the EU. In an already historic speech by Scholz, the Chancellor told the Bundestag on Sunday that EU member states will not allow Putin to go back. A clear reference to Putin’s war speech last week, in which he referred to the historical territory of Russia, to which Ukraine is supposed to partly belong. “It takes strength. We want and we will guarantee our freedom, our democracy and our prosperity,” Scholz said clearly.
Scholz announced an immediate investment of 100 billion euros in the German army. Germany will also inject 2% of its GDP into defense every year from now on. Massive applause echoed through parliament before Scholz had even finished speaking.
Is nuclear energy on the table again in Germany?
Germany also plans to extend the operation of its last nuclear power plants in order to secure the country’s energy supply. It still has three nuclear power plants in operation, which will be closed by 2022. Germany depends on Russia for more than half of its natural gas supplies and the conflict in Ukraine has already put a damper on the Russian approval of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Robert Habeck, however, does not seem very enthusiastic about the idea that nuclear power plants can continue to operate in Germany. Mr Habeck said he would not reject an extension of nuclear power plants “for ideological reasons”, but repeated that according to previous research it would not help Germany in the long term.
“As preparations for the shutdown are very advanced, nuclear power plants can only continue to operate with the greatest safety concerns and fuel stocks not yet secured. And that’s certainly not what we want,” adds Mr. Habeck.
In the meantime, Germany will also study the possibility of maintaining coal-fired power plants and increasing its natural gas supplies. To this end, Germany is building two terminals for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG). The terminals will be built in Brunsbuettel and Wilhelmshaven.