FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Members of Germany’s government, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, have scheduled a call with the operators of the country’s remaining nuclear plants to solve an impasse over life-time extensions, two people familiar with the matter said.
No decisions are expected but the talks, to take place later on Thursday, come after Berlin earlier this week failed to approve a draft law to put on reserve two of the country’s last nuclear power plants beyond their planned phase-out.
The talks, first reported by German newspaper Die Welt, reflect disagreement over the scope of life-time extensions between Economy Minister Robert Habeck and Finance Minister Christian Lindner.
Under current plans, two of the three nuclear power plants are to run beyond their official lifespan, which is due expire at the end of 2022, while Lindner’s Free Democrats are pushing to get more plants back online for longer.
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Andreas Rinke, editing by Kirsti Knolle)
