Policy

Pronuclear leader wins German election

February 25, 2025, 7:00AMNuclear News

Merz

The conservative Christian Democratic Union came out on top in Germany’s February 23 election. CDU leader Friedrich Merz achieved a “lackluster win,” as the Associated Press termed it, but his party’s political agenda could mean a revival for nuclear energy in Germany.

The country shut down its final nuclear reactor in 2023, in large part as a reaction to the 2011 accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Now many Germans are taking a renewed interest in clean, reliable nuclear power.

First, Merz and the CDU need to form a coalition to secure at least 316 votes in Parliament before he can be formally elected chancellor of Germany, the AP reports. Provisional results shared by Politico show that the CDU carried 28.5 percent of Sunday’s vote, trailed by the Alternative for Germany Party with 20.8 percent, the Social Democratic Party with 16.4 percent, and Alliance 90/the Greens with 11.6 percent.

A closer look: The conservatives and social democrats broadly agree on sticking with Germany’s target to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 and advancing the energy transition of all sectors of the economy, according to the Clean Energy Wire.

However, on nuclear energy there are differences of opinion. The CDU wants to explore nuclear plant restarts and pursue small modular reactor technology and nuclear fusion. The Social Democratic Party does not favor returning to nuclear power.

Germany faced difficulty in securing natural gas resources from Russia since the latter’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Now, Merz has announced plans to distance the nation from the United States in response to remarks and actions from President Trump.

“It is clear that this [American] government does not care much about the fate of Europe,” Merz said in a postelection debate Sunday, the BBC reported. “My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA.”

Tags:
cduchristian democratic unionfriedrich merzfusiongermanysmall modular reactorstrump
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