Kretschmer: Greens have ideological blinkers

Saxony's Minister President Michael Kretschmer (CDU) has accused his Green coalition partner of "ideological blinkers" when it comes to the energy transition. "The Greens are not concerned with what is sensible, what is economically right. It's all about the party programme," he said at a debate between the top candidates for the state elections on 1 September, which was organized by the "Sächsische Zeitung", the "Freie Presse" and the "Leipziger Volkszeitung" in Dresden.

The energy transition as it is currently being pursued has failed and needs to be relaunched. "We will manage it, but we have to remove all ideological blinkers," said Kretschmer. We also need to talk about nuclear power and domestic gas.

Katja Meier, top candidate for the Greens and currently Minister of Justice, disagreed with Kretschmer. The energy transition had not failed. However, the CDU and SPD had only planned to phase out nuclear power and coal, but not to start using renewable energies. However, this is exactly what the Greens had done in the federal government and in Saxony.

Meier also clashed with AfD top candidate Jörg Urban on the topic. "One of the main reasons why industrial companies say we are leaving Germany is energy prices," said Urban. The further expansion of renewable energies means that electricity is becoming more and more expensive. The energy transition is dependent on subsidies and the money for this has to be generated. "It is the money that is a burden on our economy." Urban wants to rely on nuclear power, as other European countries would do, and continue to use lignite.

Meier strongly disagreed with this statement. "If anything has been highly subsidized here for decades, it's nuclear power," she said. Although Poland and the Czech Republic had opted for nuclear power, they had "put it off until the day after tomorrow" due to planning difficulties and a lack of insurance. In addition, electricity from renewable energies - contrary to what Urban had previously stated - is a reason for companies to settle in a region.