He therefore hopes that Climate and Energy Minister Rob Jetten today appeals to German Federal Minister for Economy and Climate Robert Habeck to keep those nuclear power plants open. “There are protests against lignite mines being dug and whole villages being mined in Germany,” says Bontenbal. “I think it’s absurd.”
However, he points out that Germany has the right to tackle the climate crisis in this way, even if he believes it runs counter to the Netherlands’ ambition to build nuclear power plants. And it is precisely this contradiction that he finds bizarre. “But perhaps Habeck and Jetten – possibly over a good glass of wine – can still talk about it.”
Maximum delegation
The fact that Habeck is visiting the Netherlands has to do with a bilateral summit between the Dutch and German governments. In addition to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Prime Minister Rutte will also receive six other ministers, who, like their Dutch counterparts, will attend a joint dinner in Rotterdam to discuss the increasingly close cooperation between the two countries. Both in the military field and in the energy and climate fields.