Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) opposes demands from EU partners to classify nuclear energy as sustainable.

"We do not want nuclear energy, we do not consider it sustainable, and we also do not want the EU to support it," said the acting minister in the newspapers of the Funke media group.

All German nuclear reactors should be off the grid by the end of 2022.

The German position on this is clear, and "we're not the only ones who see it that way," said Schulze.

It has also not yet been decided that this classification will come, "even if France is currently very vocal about its interests".

Nuclear power is not a solution in the fight against climate change.

"Building nuclear power plants is far too expensive and takes far too long to protect the climate," said the minister.

“Let's assume we would decide to start making nuclear power again.

You find a community that would like to have a nuclear power plant, you apply for the permits, open a major social conflict and then build - there we are after 2045, until the thing is finished.

That doesn't help the climate. "

CSU boss Markus Söder also rejected a return to nuclear energy.

"The decision to phase out nuclear power is based on broad social acceptance," said the Bavarian Prime Minister to the Funke newspapers.

Different countries are pro nuclear power

France, Poland and six other Eastern European countries are urging the EU Commission to recognize nuclear power as sustainable.

Proponents argue that the EU cannot become climate-neutral by 2050 without nuclear power.

According to information from Brussels diplomats, through intensive negotiations behind the scenes, France has now convinced a majority of the EU states that nuclear power should be part of the so-called taxonomy. This is a legal text by the EU Commission that investors around the world are eagerly awaiting. Should the Brussels authority classify nuclear energy as “sustainable” in a few weeks' time, that would be tantamount to recommending the financial markets to invest in nuclear facilities.

Schulze said she had the impression that one or the other had forgotten why Germany was pulling out of nuclear power: “There were two major accidents, Chernobyl and Fukushima.

We made a conscious decision not to do that anymore because it is too dangerous in a densely populated country like Germany. ”What is now needed is a“ real departure ”in renewable energies.

Söder called on the future federal government to ensure a secure power supply.

“There can't be a blackout.

We need a security plan against blackouts in Germany, ”emphasized the CSU boss.

“If blackouts threaten, the German economic engine will stutter.

That is why the core task of the new federal government is to prevent blackouts and to promote the construction of the power lines, ”he warned.

Söder for a faster coal exit

Söder believes that an early coal phase-out is feasible.

According to the European resolutions, coal would hardly be profitable after 2030, he argued.

The year 2030 is also aiming for the possible traffic light coalition of the SPD, Greens and FDP for the coal phase-out.

The coal phase-out has been agreed so far by 2038 at the latest.