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If you ask Berlin who is to blame, there seems to be just one answer: high energy prices sparked by Russia’s war against Ukraine. The AfD and far-left Die Linke are nostalgic for cheap Russian gas, while the opposing center-right CDU and the governing pro-business FDP blame the Greens for insisting on turning off the country’s last nuclear-power plants this spring.
Turning off nuclear power has been decided by both the CDU and the FDP in 2011, when the Fukusima nuclear power plant was hit with a tsunami. The remaining last nuclear power plants in Germany were supposed to be shut down in 2022. Because of the war in Ukraine it was decided that they were switched off a few months later than originally planned, to help to get through winter.
Edit: spelling
Also the plants were sheduled tobgo offline around that time since the early 2000s. Only because the CDU and FDP expanded the runtime and stiffled the upscaling of renewables, but then decided to roll back the extension bc. of Fukushima, we are now at the place we are at. Ofc. the renewables were not put back on track but systematically blocked by the government, which is why we still have so much coal.
And it cost us a couple billions to roll back on the original plan and then again roll back on the roll back.
Yeah the talk to keep them running longer was pure populism without facts behind the words. The required safety certifications were running out and you need to order uranium way in advance. So just keep them running was not a simple option.
In this summer the renewable usage is on record highs and the energy prices from renewables on record lows.
The mistake was indeed not heavily investing in renewables before.
Additionally, they didn’t undergo inspection anymore, are old and have no fuel, not even the companies running those wanted to continue. It would’ve been costly to keep them running, it might’ve not worked at all and not helped the high energy prices. But still, FDP and CDU managed to put the blame for their wrong decisions onto the greens.
Why do people still talk about high energy prices as if this a problem now? The prices are lower than when the war started
Because Putin’s propaganda is just that effective. Give europeans a reason to bash Germany and they’ll gladly gobble up whatever you tell them. The Kremlin has been spreading blatant lies about Germany’s energy dependencies since 2021 in preperation of the invasion and internet users have been repeating those lies like a mantra ever since.
Just a couple of weeks ago Germany reduced coal power to the equivalent of shutting down several nuclear power plants as renewables generate more than enough power and prices are down to pre-war levels aswell. Besides, last year was the most profitable for energy utility companies in german history, meaning most of the price increases were simply exploitation of the narrative that “war makes energy price go up”. Prices didn’t need to go up nearly as much, but media couldn’t shut up about their scewed narrative. I mean international media still can’t shut up about it, apparently. In Germany, everyone knows we got screwed by corporate greed, not just the war.
I’ll try to answer this, please consider that English is not my native language:
Yes the prices for energy have been decreased up to the point where it has been pre-war. But the energy providers don’t forward the now lower prices to the end-customer immerdiately, because customers often have contracts with a certain energy pricing which are still running (usually you can escape a contract after one year). Also, people pay an anticipated payment each month. At the end of each year this anticipated payment is matched with what you really have to pay. This can lead to a discount (you get money back) or, in most cases, you have to pay an additional ammount. This happened to a majority of people because the energy priced have increased over the last years. So people have to pay more money for the same amount of energy consumption.
With that in mind, it is also encouraged that people are supposed to stop using natural gas or oil for heating their homes and are supposed to use air-to-air heat pumps or long-distance heating (heat is tranferred through a pipe into your house). This comes with a full refurbishment of your heating system. Simplified: you can’t just throw out your old gas-heater and connect your pipes to a heat pump - you need to replace the heatings in your rooms among other things. This is very expensive. In the meantime the Gebäudeenergiegesetz or Heizungsgesetz (“Energy law for buildings” or “Heating law”) will be changed to this situation. Beginning from 2024 all heating systems shall not be using natural gas or oil. The law couldn’t be established before the parliament’s summer break, so this will be done after the summer break. Affected people can get a sponsorship from a governments bank (KfW-Bank) for fitting their homes - but the law has to be there first. That’s why people are hesitant at the moment. Also, people don’t like changes, especially those who are old. They often say that for the 10 to 15 years they still live, it is not worth changing.
In Scandinavia it has been proven that the usage of air-to-air heat pumps can even withstand severe winters. But they started the transition years ago.
In conclusion:
- People have contracts with their energy provider they can’t escape at the moment
- Law has to be fitted to the use of heat pumps or long-distance-heating
- with the law there are sponsorship programs but people wait for the law
- some people just don’t care because it doesn’t affect them in the long run
- Germany didn’t push the transition away from gas and oil and coal in the past. With the goal of being carbon emission free by 2045 now is the last chance to start the transition.
Good summary, but let’s put the blame where it belongs.
Germany didn’t push the transition away from gas and oil and coal in the past
The conservatives of CDU and SPD are the ones who didn’t push the transition, and often times even actively sabotaged it.
Your knowledge about the heating law is very wrong.
from 2024 all heating systems shall not be using natural gas or oil
No. All NEW heating system need to use at least 65% (no an oil/heat pump combination is also possible) renewable energies. And there are exceptions for sudden repairs (I. E. The first couple of years you can still build in gas/oil).
I’ll have to admit that you are right! However, the deadline for using gas or oil for the operation of heatings is Dec. 31st. 2044. From 2045 onward heating systems cannot be operated with gas or oil.
I am German, so I know most points. However a few things are not correct.
Yes, energy companies don’t give you the lower energy prices directly, however we are also far after that point. Here is an overview of enery prices in germany: even new contracts are cheaper then before the war started.
https://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/energiemonitor-deutschland-gaspreis-spritpreis-energieversorgung
While I understand what the author is trying to say, why does Germany need to be exceptional within Europe? Isn’t this the type of thinking that we don’t want to see?
I also don’t agree that the main source of national identity is the economy. Germany is always described as das Land der Dichter und Denker (the land of poets and thinkers) as an homage to its rich history in arts and science, but also liberalism and democracy. That’s what makes Germany truly special, not something as fickle as the economy.
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I have never heard of anyone pinning German pride to the economy
It’s rather weird the German economy became so big so quickly. We threw Europe and much of the world into war and devastation for the second time. Credits go to foreign aid and allowance, and to foreign workers mostly from Italy and Turkey. Of course honest domestic hard work was also involved, but every country has that. All in all, this is not a story to fuel national pride, but rather humbleness and gratitude.
The article mentions the weakening of democracy through the AFD. Till Lindemann is Germany’s widely known poet of today.
Democracy isn’t weakened by the AFD. It’s the conservative parties like the CDU/CSU and the FDP that have switched to populism and disinformation to stay somewhat relevant in the age of climate change. Both parties were scared of the popularity of the SPD and especially the Greens in the last election. In the end, they’re only helping to raise the popularity of the AFD, as they support more and more of their talking points. Without them, the AFD would have stayed on its downward trajectory into irrelevance.
PS: Many CDU/CSU politicians see the Greens as their number one political rival and source of all problems, not the AFD.
It’s the conservative parties like the CDU/CSU and the FDP that have switched to populism and disinformation to stay somewhat relevant in the age of climate change.
They haven’t “switched” they were always that way. When in the 90s “Die Republikaner” and the “DVU” came up (like AfD but not as successful), they were riding on a wave of racism and anti-immigration speak the CDU/CSU started. It was them who invented words like “Schein-Asylanten” (Sham Asylum Seekers), “Asyltourismus” (Asylum Tourists), they wanted to change the Grundgesetz to limit asylum. That was 33 years ago.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asyldebatte#Die_Asylkampagnen_der_Unionsparteien_ab_1986
And for the Greens as their “enemy”, it was like that from the beginning in the 80s, I was there. They started laughing at the Greens and then went very fast on to attacking them furiously.
Already in 1986 Strauß told his voters red-green would take away their cars and their freedom. His speeches are everywhere on the internet, of course very famous with the far-right today.
I am 57 now and I feel so trapped in a circle where the conservative parties stop progress at every step, a progress that was already known as necessary in 1980. 40 years lost.
Sorry for me rambling, I needed to get that out of my soul today.
Strange dig with Rammstein.
Sorry, but when exactly was Germany famous for democracy and liberalism?
The years 1945-2023, so quite a long time.
There’s also the Weimar Republic, the Frankfurt Parliament of 1848 and even during the medieval period, many free imperial cities had an early form of democracy and liberal freedoms, especially compared to the duchies surrounding them.
Super interesting to understand the changes happening.
I feel like if the migrant issue was resolved, the far right wouldn’t be so popular
The migrant “issue” is made up by the right wing nut jobs in the first place.
The problems were there before the new wave of migrants came, such as the growing rich-poor disparity. The far right simply instrumentalises this to their advantage. I’m sure the super rich are happy not to be the scapegoats and are willing to open their wallets to avoid that from happening.
the AfD and CDU heavily favor neoliberal politics, worsening the social issues. The AfD now pretends to take care of poor people but they were fiercly against a minimum wage until they realised this might be too much for their voters.
National socialism was always meant to redirect the anger and frustration of the working class to a scapegoat minority, instead of the business owners and former nobility that funded the party.
The migrant “issue” will never be resolved. In their eyes there is only one solution. The final one.
Interesting article, thank you for this.
the war&postwar generation ate all the KfW money and tell everyone it was their work that rebuild germany.
it did not. not only cant the boomers evwn pay for their own pensions they also left a hefty debt.
the atlantic is stupid to think the 70s and 80s crisis"s were mastered because of the german attitude and great work. it wasnt. pensions were spent, debts were created. the only thing that changed since ww2 is that they forgot to keep theirs mouths shut. work is still the same, but the money is gone. at no point in time germany was exceptional - that is the fuel to the far right…to think germams were any good. war criminals were ministers, traumatized facists became teachers… that entire german rebuild is based on the money of other people.
