Minimum step, maximum damage: The nuclear power plant compromise is dangerous for the traffic light parties

It’s finally done. After months of dispute, the traffic light voted on Friday for extended operation of the remaining three nuclear power plants. The three reactors can now run 105 days longer, there are no new fuel rods for them, after that it’s finally over. A minimal step, for which the Greens and FDP in particular have torn themselves to pieces for weeks and left a lot of scorched earth behind.

Apparently they hurt themselves the most with this behavior – at least if you take the satisfaction values ​​of the actors involved as an indicator.

So on Friday no one felt like teasing anymore. In a debate without new arguments, the parties sent their second ranks into the field. The chancellor, the environment minister and the finance minister stayed away from the debate.

The minimum compromise remains dangerous for all traffic light parties. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has to fear that the Liberals will evade his power next spring and question the nuclear compromise again.

FDP leader Christian Lindner has emphasized that he no longer wants to push his coalition partners on the matter, but only to make them a poisoned offer a few days before the vote. Speed ​​limit against nuclear power – a deal that Lindner himself does not believe in and should primarily harm the Greens.

But there is still a risk for the FDP. Liberals have to continually explain to their voters that they have not become the stirrup of a left-wing government. On closer inspection, the FDP, with a roar, has achieved much less than the Greens prevented.

Exactly what is prevented is becoming a danger for the Greens. They will have to answer for rising electricity costs – whether justified or not – and for power failures anyway. Robert Habeck’s Ministry of Economics hopes for a warm winter, not only for this year but also for next year. Because the energy crisis will not end on April 15th.

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