Brussels, 27/08/2010 (Agence Europe) - The discussion in Germany became more heated last week in the row between national energy groups and the government over the planned nuclear tax proposed by Berlin. On Tuesday 24 August, German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected all calls from the employer associations to reconsider her plans to tax producers of nuclear energy, stressing that the threats made her want to persevere. “That's how it is with me: if something comes across as a threat or blackmail, I am generally more likely to move in the opposite direction. Also, I do not feel that I owe anything to a specific proportion of society but, as Chancellor, I must be responsible for everybody in Germany”, she said in an interview with German media group Madsack (our translation). Merkel was reacting to a vitriolic letter sent to her on 21 August and signed by some 40 leaders of the nuclear lobby, including leaders of banks and industrial groups such as BASF, Bayer, ThyssenKrupp and Henkel, in defence of nuclear power and urging Berlin to give up its idea of the tax, which is expected to bring in €2.3 billion a year for Berlin from 2011, in return for the government's decision to extend the life cycle of 17 German nuclear power stations, as Merkel promised to do after her re-election in autumn 2009, whereas Gerhard Schröder's Social Democratic/Green government (1998-2005) had planned their gradual closures up to 2020. As well as taxing nuclear fuel, Merkel also announced her plans on Thursday 26 August to discuss how energy companies can contribute to developing renewable energy, although the nuclear tax is seen first and foremost as a contribution to the country's budgetary consolidation objectives. The announcements are unlikely to ease relations between Merkel and Germany's four main energy groups - EON, RWE, EnBW and Vatenfall - which own the nuclear power stations.
In an interview with the German daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung of 22 August, European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger said that he was in favour of all German energy groups paying the state at least half of the profit they make from the extension of the life span of the nuclear power stations. “It is understandable that the groups are protesting about the idea of a tax, we are talking about a lot of money after all. But they should certainly be paying the public authorities a proportion of the considerable profit they have made from the extended life spans of the power stations: I consider that at least 50% would be appropriate”, he stressed the day after the industry launched its crusade against Berlin's plans. Oettinger added that it would be necessary to “get the debate over with quickly in order to concentrate on other decisions, which are at least as important” concerning R&D and investments in energy, such as extending the electricity networks or the Desertec project for solar power stations in Africa and the Middle East. The controversial nuclear tax will be examined by the German government on 1 September at a meeting of the Council of Ministers. (E.H./transl.fl)