Chancellor Olaf Scholz has criticized the green EU label for investments in certain gas and nuclear power plants.

"I always thought that was wrong," he said on Thursday on the ZDF program "Maybrit Illner".

The federal government made up of SPD, Greens and FDP voted against it, but could no longer prevent the regulation.

They then made sure "that it still suits us halfway".

Scholz emphasized: "In Germany we are in complete agreement that nuclear energy is not green."

A majority in the EU Parliament backed the eco-label project on Wednesday.

Specifically, it is about a supplementary legal act to the so-called taxonomy of the EU.

It is a classification system designed to steer private investment into sustainable economic activities and thus support the fight against climate change.

It is relevant for companies because it influences the investment decisions of investors and could therefore have an impact on the financing costs of projects, for example.

Investors should also be able to avoid investments in climate-damaging economic sectors.

Before the vote, environmentalists had asked MEPs to vote against the new legal act.

Among other things, they criticize the fact that greenhouse gases are emitted when energy is generated using natural gas.

In the case of nuclear power, the main problem is the waste, but also possible accidents.

Proponents, on the other hand, point to the need for transitional technologies and to the fact that liquid gas, for example from the USA, or hydrogen can also be used to operate gas-fired power plants.

"Can't accept a country invading its neighbors"

Despite the growing economic problems in Germany, Scholz also advocated maintaining solidarity with Ukraine for as long as necessary.

"I believe that you can only act with the support of the citizens," said the SPD politician on Thursday on the ZDF program "Maybrit Illner".

"But I believe that this will be possible for a very long time and that we can maintain solidarity with Ukraine from Germany for as long as it is necessary."

Germany is also obliged to show this solidarity for its own sake, because democracy and the rule of law are being defended in Ukraine against the Russian attackers.

"We cannot accept a country attacking its neighbors and saying I'm stealing a piece of the land, it's mine now."

Scholz defended the sanctions imposed on Russia.

Politicians from the left and AfD had recently called for punitive measures against Russia to be lifted or for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to be put into operation in order to avert an energy emergency.

There are fears that Russia could completely stop supplying gas to Germany as early as July.

In the course of the Ukraine war, the prices for energy, but also for food, for example, have risen significantly.

Scholz rules out tax increases

Nevertheless, the Federal Chancellor currently sees no way of distributing the rising costs of tax increases in a different way.

"We have no legislative majority for tax increases," said the SPD politician.

"This is something where different beliefs exist," he added, referring to coalition partner FDP.

He himself is in favor of a fairer tax system, as was anchored in the SPD program for the federal elections last year.

Politicians from the SPD and the Greens are calling for companies and the rich to get more involved in the current crisis.

Above all, there is talk of an excess profit tax for mineral oil companies, which benefit greatly from high energy prices.

Most recently, SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert and Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt spoke out in favor of this in the news magazine "Spiegel".

But there are also demands for a property tax or an increase in inheritance tax.

However, the FDP categorically rejects tax increases.

“In view of the fragile economic development, such debates are completely counterproductive.

There is a threat of a downward spiral of recession and increasing burdens," General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai told dpa at the beginning of the week.