Angela Merkel's government has decided to phase out nuclear power by 2022, in a reversal of its previous policy. German commentators are split over the wisdom of the decision, with one newspaper comparing the move to the fall of the Berlin Wall and another saying it will harm future generations.
The government's new plan is broadly based on recommendations by an ethics commission that Merkel set up after Fukushima to study the future of nuclear energy in Germany. Critics claimed that the chancellor only set up the panel to lend legitimacy to her sudden about-turn on nuclear power, which was widely seen as an electioneering tactic ahead of a key state election.
The conservative Die Welt
"The nuclear phaseout marks a creeping rejection of the economic model which has transformed Germany into one of the richest countries in the world in recent decades. ... What will the new energy age cost us Germans in terms of money and jobs? And are we completely indifferent to the risk of a major power outage? Just recently, the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance warned that Germany is totally unprepared for a large-scale blackout."
The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:
"The ethics commission had been given the task of 'reevaluating' the risks of nuclear energy. But by 'reevaluate,' what was meant was that the slightest possibility of a nuclear accident similar to the one in Fukushima -- no matter how unlikely -- was now to be classified as unacceptable. What is being ignored in the process is the fact that each form of energy is associated with incalculable risks."
"It took humanity a hundred years to realize the dangers that burning fossil fuels pose to the environment and to people's health. The harmful effects of an overhasty energy revolution will be mainly felt in economic and social terms -- and it is future generations that will be affected."
The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:
"The ethics commission has looked far beyond the nuclear phaseout itself. The group has focused less on shutting down reactors and more on the process that such a phaseout would trigger. After all, simply taking the nuclear plants offline is not enough by itself."
In an editorial titled "A Moment Like the Fall of the Berlin Wall," the left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes:
"Usually one does not recognize historic moments if one is too close to them. It's a label that should be used sparingly in any case. But this is one: An industrialized country now has a roadmap for switching to a sustainable energy supply, moving beyond dangerous and expensive nuclear power and dirty coal. That has never happened before. It is a step in the right direction -- and the world is watching."
"The interesting question is whether this government will take the ethic commission's recommendations to heart. From a political and economic perspective, the report gives it all the ammunition it needs to act. In terms of domestic politics, Angela Merkel cannot retreat now, given her sudden violent aversion to nuclear power. And the new direction also makes sense in terms of party politics: Only a business-oriented conservative government can pull off such a revolution, because the loudest opponents are within its own ranks. ... Only Merkel's center-right administration can phase out nuclear power without Germany descending into a crippling conflict."
