Merkel intervenes in stagnating German coal exit talks

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will personally weigh in on the stagnating negotiations over the end of coal-fired power production in the country, news magazine Der Spiegel reports. In a letter from the German Chancellery, Merkel said she will meet the premiers of Germany’s four lignite (brown coal) mining states as well as the heads of the country’s so-called coal exit commission on 15 January to discuss “the state of affairs and the future process” of brokering a socially acceptable and technologically feasible end to coal power in Germany. According to Der Spiegel, the chancellor has been dissatisfied with the commission’s work. The body was originally supposed to come to a conclusion by the end of 2018, but the commission has postponed its last meeting to February, primarily due to disagreement on how the financial means set aside for cushioning an end to coal power should be allocated among the coal mining states.