"The deindustrialisation of Germany"

Many leading industrialists are strongly criticising the German government´s nuclear energy phaseout. One of the loudest critics is the head of energy giant RWE, Jürgen Grossmann. Grossman has publicly complained about an "eco-dictatorship" before writing a letter to chancellor Angela Merkel, blasting details of her plans:

On Friday, he took the battle a step further, warning in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung that Merkel's phase out plan could result in large companies turning their backs on the country as a result of climbing energy prices. "The de-industrialization (of Germany) won't come all at once. It will be a gradual process," Grossmann said. "Soon we will have to do without entire industrial sectors: companies like BASF and Thyssen-Krupp won't be here anymore."

There has even been growing criticism from within her own party. Indeed, many within her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) now want her to call a party convention to focus solely on the issue of atomic energy.


"It would be good were the party to discuss such a fundamental change as the nuclear question at a special party convention," Peter Hauk, CDU floor leader in Baden-Württemberg state parliament, told SPIEGEL. "Such a discussion would be good for the party." Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, head of the CDU in the state of Saarland, agrees. "Given the effort to find broad societal consensus on the issue," she told SPIEGEL, "a discussion within the party would certainly seem appropriate."
Merkel made no indication on Thursday that she was intending to acquiesce to such demands. "The dramatic events in Japan were a turning point for the world and a turning point for me personally," she said. "I have revised my views."


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PS

It appears almost certain that this, or the next German government, will have to revise Merkel´s unwise decision to shut down the country´s nuclear plants by 2022. A Germany without many of its leading industrial companies will not be able to cope economically. And, as this blog and others have pointed out, it is also extremely dangerous to become dependent on Russian energy deliveries.