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German Greens urged to back nuclear deal
German Greens urged to back nuclear deal
MUENSTER, Germany, June 23 (Reuters) - Leading German Greens urged a
party congress on Friday to back a government deal with industry to
gradually phase out nuclear power, saying it should be seen as a
triumph for the ecologists.
Approval in a vote scheduled for late in the day is by no means
certain because some in the party want a faster pullout than the one
agreed last week. A 'no' vote could spark a crisis in the government
coalition uniting the Greens and their senior partner, Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats.
``I know the compromise hits the pain barrier for many in our ranks.
Nevertheless, this agreement was not reached easily,'' outgoing
Greens co-leader Gunda Roestel told the conference.
``Almost 50 percent of our citizens see this as a Green success and
it would be ridiculous if we destroyed this success ourselves,'' she
said to applause from the delegates.
Party manager Reinhard Buetikofer said he expected enough delegates
to back the deal and reject other counter-motions due to be put
before the conference by Greens who want the party to stick to an
original demand for an quicker end to nuclear power.
``We will have three hours of arguing and then the majority will vote
in favour,'' Buetikofer told Reuters before the meeting of some 750
regional delegates in the western city of Muenster.
The deal foresees a maximum life of 32 years for each of Germany's 19
nuclear plants, meaning the last would close down in the mid-2020s.
The Greens went into the talks demanding a near-immediate shutdown
but ended up reluctantly proposing a 30-year operational life span
for the plants.
Some Greens were also alarmed that the accord did not fix a firm date
for the final shutdown and left open the possibility that future
governments could reverse some of its provisions.
WARNINGS FROM SENIOR PARTY MEMBERS
Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, the most prominent Greens
politician, even suggested the fate of the party, which has seen a
steady decline in support in recent years, hung on the vote.
``The Greens won't die. If the party congress comes to sensible
decisions -- and that applies to nuclear withdrawal and the new
leadership vote -- then we have a great opportunity to turn the wheel
round,'' Fischer told Bild newspaper.
The Greens emerged from the 1960s and 1970s peace movement to win 6.7
percent of the national vote in 1998.
But the party has lost ground in a series of local elections and
opinion polls show the resurgent liberal Free Democrats have
overtaken the Greens as Germany's third political force.
``We are no longer the party that automatically represents the
interests of young people. The time of the 1968 generation, for whom
the Greens represented a funny, cheeky and provocative rejection of
the establishment, is over,'' Roestel said.
The congress is due to elect successors to Roestel and her co-chair,
Antje Radcke of the party's radical wing, and appoint members of a
new party council that many hope will be a powerful policy-forming
unit.
Fischer, a controversial figure among the ecologists, will run on
Saturday for a seat on the party council, the first time he has
tested his personal popularity among colleagues in this way.
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