Khaleej Times Online 4 March 2007

BERLIN - A split within Germany’s ruling coalition over the nation’s withdrawal from nuclear energy flared again on Sunday ahead of a European Union summit this week due to address climate change.

Conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will host the meeting in Brussels, favours extending the life of Germany’s nuclear plants, which account for a third of the country’s electricity supply.

But she agreed in the coalition pact with the Social Democrats (SPD) in 2005 not to renege on a nuclear phase-out sealed under her predecessor, SPD Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Conservative Economy Minister Michael Glos on Sunday sharply criticised a decision by SPD Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel to prevent utility RWE RWEG.DE from extending the life of one of its nuclear plants.

‘With his attitude Environment Minister Gabriel is showing that leftist anti-nuclear ideology is more important to him than climate protection,’ Glos was quoted as saying by the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

Glos has said nuclear power could help Germany reduce its dependence on energy imports from politically unstable regions and cut emissions of carbon dioxide blamed for climate change.

A spokesman for Gabriel told Sunday’s Der Tagesspiegel newspaper: ‘We would find it helpful in the climate change discussion if all members of the cabinet stuck to an appropriate level of debate.’

RWE wants to keep its Biblis A nuclear plant, Germany’s oldest, running until 2011, three years longer than agreed under the terms of the withdrawal.

An RWE spokesman said on Friday the company had heard nothing about the government’s decision and an Environment Ministry spokesman said it would be communicated to the firm in the next two weeks.

Former Chancellor Schroeder said on Sunday nuclear power was a dangerous and expensive energy source that caused long-term environmental damage and it should be quickly phased out.

‘It will not make any decisive contribution to solving our energy problems,’ Schroeder wrote in a guest article for Swiss newspaper SonntagsBlick.

Long-term strategy

EU leaders are due to meet in Brussels on March 8-9 to agree a long-term energy strategy for the bloc. As holder of the EU’s rotating six-month presidency, Merkel will lead the talks.

In a speech to the lower house of parliament last week, Merkel voiced support for European Commission proposals to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the 27-nation bloc by 20 percent by 2020 and by 30 percent if other big industrial nations join in.

Merkel is hoping an environmental agreement within the EU can set the stage for a broader international consensus on combating climate change at a Group of Eight (G8) summit she will host in the Baltic resort town of Heiligendamm in June.

However, France opposes a proposal to set a binding target for renewable energy sources, setting up a potential clash with Germany at the Brussels meeting.