BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - As of today, the Bundestag will be dealing with the reappraisal of decisions on the German nuclear phase-out in a committee of inquiry. Parliamentary President Bärbel Bas will open the constituent meeting this evening. In addition to the ongoing committee on the withdrawal of German troops from Afghanistan, this is the second committee of inquiry in this parliamentary term. It was requested by the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag in mid-June. The plenary will discuss the motion to convene the committee this afternoon. Adoption is considered a formality.

Union sees possible deception of the public

The committee of inquiry is about nothing less than the question of "whether the public was deceived in the decision to shut down the last three nuclear power plants", CSU member of parliament and energy politician Andreas Lenz told the German Press Agency. "There is a well-founded suspicion that the promised open-ended review of continued operation never took place," he continued.

His parliamentary group will demand the necessary transparency in the investigation and clarify responsibility for the processes surrounding the nuclear phase-out. Lenz is one of the 14 members of the new committee.

Germany phased out the use of nuclear energy in mid-April 2023. The last three nuclear power plants were shut down for good. Prior to this, the German government had decided to keep the reactors running for a few months longer due to the energy crisis resulting from the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Originally, the nuclear phase-out was supposed to be completed by December 31, 2022. The duration of the continued operation of the power plants and the decision to finally phase out nuclear power had caused fierce debate and controversy both within the government and among the opposition.

Continued operation only after the Chancellor has made a statement

The Greens had long opposed any form of lifetime extension, but ultimately supported the concept presented by Habeck and the nuclear power plant operators in September 2022 for a temporary operational reserve for two of the last three reactors. The FDP had campaigned for an extension beyond April 2023. In October 2022, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) then put his foot down, which led to the continued operation of all three reactors until spring 2023 at the latest.

From the point of view of the CDU/CSU, there are doubts that the decisions on continued operation were made "impartially" and "open-ended". This view is also supported by a report published weeks ago by the magazine "Cicero", according to which internal concerns about the nuclear phase-out planned for the end of 2022 were allegedly suppressed in both the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of the Environment in spring 2022. Both ministries deny this.

As stated in the Union's motion to convene the committee of inquiry, Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) promised an open-ended examination of the possible continued operation of nuclear power plants in Germany on February 27, 2022 and announced an examination on March 1 of the same year in which there would be "no taboos".

Only a short time later, on March 7, 2022, Habeck's ministry and Steffi Lemke's Federal Ministry for the Environment, also a green ministry, published a joint "review report" in which they rejected continued operation for safety reasons, among others.

Lemke and Habeck reject accusations

It cannot be ruled out that "technical expertise had to give way to political and party-political requirements", according to the motion. It should therefore be clarified in particular whether Habeck's promised examinations of a lifetime extension had taken place and whether "critical voices had been systematically suppressed", as CSU politician Lenz went on to explain.

Lemke and Habeck themselves deny the accusations. In several hearings in the specialist committees and debates in plenary, they assured that they had always acted to the best of their knowledge and belief. According to Lemke's ministry, the allegations have been "cleared up". After a hearing in April, Habeck had assured: "Security of supply was my absolute priority and the whole house worked without any prohibitions on thinking, but of course always on the basis of facts, data and legal norms."

The coming weeks will show whether this statement can be upheld. The two ministers will then also have to answer questions from the committee as witnesses./faa/DP/zb