Why the Greens should listen to Schwarzenegger

The Terminator is back! At the start-up fair “Bits

California's former governor, who is friends with climate activist Greta Thunberg and is considered a green pioneer in the United States, attested to the environmental movement that it "meant well" to phase out nuclear power. Despite this, the advantages over fossil fuels outweigh those and the number of potential deaths in eventual nuclear accidents is negligible compared to those that could die from pollution and climate change.

So now it's time: Terminator against Trittin! Because anti-nuclear ultra Jürgen Trittin (Greens) has been railing against the extended operation of nuclear power plants for weeks - he sees his life's work threatened. And the Greens parliamentary group leader Britta Haßelmann also insisted on a nuclear phase-out about two weeks ago: "There is no scenario that requires the nuclear power plants to continue running," she told the "Frankfurter Rundschau".

Does Schwarzenegger's announcement bring about the turning point? Hardly likely. Rather, Arnis biceps shrink to the size of a leek. The German Greens continue to defiantly cling to the exit.

First, Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) claimed that Germany had no electricity problem at all, so that the question of extending the service life of the three remaining power plants did not even arise. In the meantime, two can continue to run in the emergency supply until spring 2023. The third nuclear power plant in Emsland is shut down; possibly because the state elections in Lower Saxony will take place in a few weeks.

The German Greens are not only ignorant with this, they are also slowly becoming quite alone. The party, which often feels misunderstood as a high earner party, apparently also considers the rapidly increasing electricity prices to be a negligible scenario. And that's despite the fact that they could even use the moral absolution of Greta Thunberg, who wrote back in 2019 that nuclear energy could be "a small part of a very big new carbon-free energy solution".

And the Swedish Greens also criticized Robert Habeck for his attitude - and threatened to cut the high-voltage cable that connects the German and Swedish power grids in the Baltic Sea.

But the German eco-party continues undeterred. Green party leader Ricarda Lang said at the state party conference in Donaueschingen at the weekend: “We make politics based on the reality that is there. Not based on the reality you want.”

The reality that is there is tens of thousands of letters in which electricity providers announce to their customers that the price of electricity will in some cases quintuple. While that may be a desirable reality for power producers, it certainly isn't for the populace plagued by inflation and skyrocketing gas prices at the same time.

The Greens get bogged down in defensive struggles. They probably already suspect that they will have to forego the nuclear phase-out for the time being – after the Lower Saxony elections. They mourn their big project. And what is the first stage of grief? Not wanting to believe. It would be desirable for everyone if they could overcome their grief as quickly as possible and look to the future.