“Cuddling up with the coal lobby”
tageszeitung (taz)
Large utilities mainly operating fossil power plants have had much more top-level contacts with government than the renewable industry, reports left-wing newspaper tageszeitung (taz). Since October 2014, RWE has held 40 talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel, ministers, or state secretaries, according to data provided by the economics ministry. Rival E.ON had 41 such contacts, of which four were with the chancellor. Germany’s largest wind power company Enercon had only two talks with ministers, and one with a state secretary. The Left Party said the “obvious favouritism” influenced government policy, slowing down the Energiewende, and delaying a coal exit.
Read the article in German here.
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