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Meinungsbeitrag

Merz on Lanz: Back to the Future - with Combustion Engines and Nuclear Power

The industry is already far ahead of the policies of the Grand Coalition, countered Green politician Jamila Schäfer to CDU economic policy maker Friedrich Merz. In the most recent talk round, he spoke in favor of the further development of the combustion engine, implied a return to nuclear power, and claimed that the energy transition has nothing to do with the mobility transition. 

Restorative Elements: Friedrich Merz not only advocated for the further development of internal combustion engines on Lanz, but also implied longer operating times for nuclear power plants. | Photo: ZDF
Restorative Elements: Friedrich Merz not only advocated for the further development of internal combustion engines on Lanz, but also implied longer operating times for nuclear power plants. | Photo: ZDF
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Johannes Reichel

Sorry, but if you listened to Friedrich Merz, the Union's beacon of hope, in the talk show with Markus Lanz on September 14 (and he talked for a long time), the quote attributed to the otherwise progress-believing Kaiser Wilhelm II. comes to mind: "The automobile is a temporary phenomenon. I will count on the horse." Or applied to Merz: "The electric car is a temporary phenomenon. I count on the combustion engine." The Dakota Indians would call this "riding a dead horse." They recommend: One should dismount. Or switch.

How stubbornly the alleged and self-proclaimed economic expert of the Union insisted on the further development of the combustion engine reveals an astonishing disconnect from the industry, coupled with a lack of willingness to innovate. It's not just VW boss Herbert Diess or Audi CEO Markus Duesmann who have long since stopped developing combustion engines and have set firm dates for the cessation of their development.

The economy has long moved ahead

In this respect, the political opponent in the round, the deputy chairwoman of the Greens and Bundestag candidate Jamila Schäfer, was quite right when she pointed out that industry and economy are far ahead of the politicians of the Grand Coalition. When Merz then babbled that he wouldn't have phased out nuclear power so early and implied an extension of the operating times of nuclear power plants, rising to the thesis that the energy transition has nothing to do with the mobility transition, that these are different complexes, one had to almost attribute "Merkel qualities" to the 28-year-old up-and-coming politician Schäfer for her stoic calm. She remained calm even when Merz grumbled an uncle-like "nanana, Frau Schäfer" from the side, in the best Christian Lindner style and in a tone as if to say: "Climate protection is something for professionals—and adults."

The record of the Union's adult professionals after 16 years of their government is, in any case, more than poor. The infrastructure in rail and energy is dilapidated, the digital infrastructure is scarcely present at every tenth milk can, as recently reviewed by the FAZ in the Merkel years.

The former "climate chancellor" Merkel might have been willing, but she wasn't able. She seemingly didn't get through to her own people. Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock spoke in the recent "triell" of the Grand Coalition's "coming to terms with the past." What Merz explains is more like "revitalizing the past" under the motto: "Back to the Future." If these are the "technological innovations" that the CDU's election program charmingly hints at, they are innovations that already didn't lead to good renewal in the past.

Of course, the energy transition is a prerequisite and condition for a successful (electric) mobility transition, two sides of the same coin. The magic word: sector coupling. And if the Grand Coalition and especially the Ministry of Economy, as well as various state ministers like Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet (CDU) or Markus Söder (CSU), hadn't delayed, squandered, and bureaucratically complicated the expansion of renewable energies and especially wind power, we would be much further ahead.

And we wouldn't have to listen to the failure-loving whining from politicians of the same party, alternatively the FDP or even from the far-right, claiming that the energy supply for millions of electric cars and the e-charging infrastructure would never work. Hello, you had 16 years to contribute to the success and create the prerequisites so that Germany could now easily take off electrically! But you didn’t! Lawyers call such logic a "reversal of the burden of proof."

The lost jobs in wind energy are hardly mentioned

The fact that this poses a threat to Germany's position, whose strengthening the party always carries like a monstrance, Friedrich Merz didn't want to recognize either. But it does. Just one number, which a highly recommended Zoom report by ZDF refreshed: 40,000 jobs have been lost in the local wind energy sector due to the almost complete halt in expansion in recent years.

Particularly drastic in Bavaria: 97 percent of the potential areas, according to a recent expert report, were lost due to "10H." Twice as many jobs as are still present in lignite coal.

By the way, a wind turbine is now climate-neutral after eight months and has recovered the energy invested in its production through the CO2 savings compared to coal. A similar fate befell the once-flourishing solar technology in this country years ago. A sad story.

China is massively expanding wind energy

In the meantime, China, which is repeatedly used as an excuse for inaction ("What can we do when they are building hundreds of coal power plants"), not only dominates solar technology but also has the highest addition rates in wind power worldwide. They also dominate semiconductor technology and battery technology. Let's not even start talking about the fuel cell that was once researched in Germany. All components where Germany was early on and missed opportunities recklessly... We could have long established "thriving energy transition landscapes" and been a global leader. Spilt milk, but still very lamentable.

The Bicycle Industry as a "Stone Age Industry"?!

Recently, voices from the Union have consistently claimed not to want to "return to the Stone Age." Bavarian tree lover Markus Söder (CSU) recently antagonized the entire bicycle industry (according to a Wuppertal Institute study, 281,000 jobs) at the IAA and elsewhere with his errant tweet:

"Our engineers are moving the country forward, not conspiracy theorists. We need strong mobility in Germany. Not everyone can ride a bicycle to work in wind and weather. The future lies in innovation, not a return to the Stone Age."

It is quite audacious to associate the bicycle industry with lateral thinkers, as if the Bavarian MP hadn't just seen at the trade fair — he was photographed at Kettler and Husqvarna, among others — how innovative the two-wheeler industry is. Briefly, the old CSU surfaced again, though their theses hardly advance or help in 2021, given the dramatically noticeable climate change even here.

Just recently, Söder, as stubborn as Merz, continued to insist on the mentioned 10-H rule for wind power. And a climate protection law presented by the Free Voters' partner, which includes the massive expansion of wind power, is gathering dust in the State Chancellery's drawers.

Technologically, Markus Söder's and Friedrich Merz's ideas are rather "Stone Age." They massively endanger Germany's position. And how this is supposed to achieve the climate neutrality of Germany by 2045, as also postulated by the Union, CDU/CSU politicians still owe a concrete answer. That is truly irresponsibLE.

Translated automatically from German.
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