German coal states' economy ministers warn against “hasty exit plans”

The economy ministers of the German coal states Brandenburg, Saxony, and North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) have warned the country’s coal exit commission against coming up with “hasty” scenarios for phasing out fossil power sources. In a press release issued on the eve of the coal exit commission’s inaugural meeting, the ministers - Albrecht Gerber from Brandenburg, Martin Dulig from Saxony (both CDU), and Andreas Pinkwart (FDP) from NRW - said that a coal exit scenario recently published by Germany’s Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) appeared to be “politically motivated,” and could “influence the debate within the commission at our expense” by making “unrealistic assumptions” about the power grid. The three ministers said the commission’s task was not merely to plan the end of coal-fired power production, but also to prevent severe economic disruptions in coal regions. “Nobody must jump to conclusions concerning a coal exit date,” Brandenburg’s minister Gerber said. 

Find the press release in German here.

For background, read the CLEW article Commission watch – Managing Germany’s coal phase-out and the factsheet Germany’s coal exit commission.