“If they (the nuclear plants) are operational, I think it would be a mistake to stop them and switch to coal,” said one of the world’s best-known climate activists in an interview with the ARD television channel Total, which will air on Wednesday. It’s a “bad idea” to bet on coal, she added, according to excerpts from the interview posted on Twitter.
Greta Thunberg’s remarks come in a tense context in which the ruling coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals is torn over solutions to an unprecedented energy crisis. Initially, Germany, whose population is largely anti-nuclear, wanted to shut down its last three operating nuclear reactors by the end of 2022.
expansion of activity
However, Olaf Scholz’s government recently reversed this decision and decided to extend two of the three plants still in operation until spring 2023.
The Liberals would like to go further and keep the three power plants running longer, as stressed by German Finance Minister Christian Lindner, who immediately welcomed Greta Thunberg’s comments on Twitter. “I applaud the encouragement by the initiator of the Fridays for Future movement for the Liberal position on keeping our nuclear plants operational,” he said.