Re: Germany renounces nuclear power - historic agreement

[Franz Schoenhofer <schoenho@via.at>]

At 10:39 15.06.2000 -0500, you wrote:
>If 81% of Germans favor nuclear power, why is the government negotiating to
>phase it out?  

The answer is very easy. The Social Democrats have not ruled in Germany for
decades, but they want to. They can only form a government with the support
of the Greens, because the Conservative Party (CDU/CSU) is no potential
partner. The Greens (but also many left wing Social Democrats) are
anti-nuclear. The Greens have to justify their politics and have to show
their voters and potential voters that they have the power now to achieve
environmental goals, especially to get rid of nuclear power, otherwise they
will loose tremendously in the next election. The Social Democrats cannot
deny all requests of their "junior partner", because the Greens may finish
the coalition then. But I think that such a situation is nothing new in
politics - look to countries like Italy or Israel, where very small parties
are needed to form a majority of the government, where they can influence
politics and where the small parties have more ministers than what would be
their share when taking the number of seats in parliament into consideration. 

You may also be right, that the fact that nuclear power should be phased
out over about 20 years, may show that the government expects others to
solve the problems following its decision. 

Best regards,

Franz


Franz Schoenhofer
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Vienna
Austria
Tel.: +43-1-495 53 08
Fax.: same number
mobile phone: +43-664-338 0 333
e-mail: schoenho@via.at


Office:
Hofrat Dr. Franz Schoenhofer
Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management
Radiation Protection Department (BMLFUW I/8 U)
Radetzkystr. 2
A-1031 Vienna
AUSTRIA

phone: -43-1-71172-4458
fax: -43-1-7122331

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