On Monday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was forced to make an executive move as his coalition continued to squabble over nuclear power. While his Social Democratic Party was quick to portray his decision as a sign of strength, he may actually be in trouble.
Germany is a so-called chancellor-led parliamentary democracy. Unlike their Austrian and Swiss counterparts, the German chancellor has the final say in their government. The constitution grants the chancellor the “Richtlinienkompetenz”, the authority to issue binding directives to their ministers.
Chancellors almost never make use of it, though. This week, however, Scholz did resort to this, in a very public way.
He sent a letter to his ministers, who could not agree on whether to extend nuclear power, telling them that all three nuclear power plants would stay online until spring. All German media outlets received the letter, too.
Make no mistake, that was a stark divergence from his predecessor, Angela Merkel, who may have threatened to use her authority — possibly, even done so secretly — but never publicly.
Scholz – once famously quoted with “whoever orders leadership from me, will get it”- did. Perhaps out of a desperate need to be seen as in charge.
Scholz’s crackdown was preceded by weeks of messy discussions, where the liberal FDP accused their green partners in the government of worsening the energy crisis. In April, I wrote that “political three-ways are hard to manage and tend to be rather messy”, which rang true throughout the nuclear stand-off.
Ironically, Scholz explained in August that “it’s good that I have it [the authority to crack down]. But not in the form of writing a letter to someone, of course.”
Just two months later, he did exactly that. Long-time German politics watchers were baffled. How bad must government infighting get to take such a step, they wondered.
“When a chancellor has to make a policy authority decision, it says a lot about the state of a government!” said Ulrich Deppendorf, the now-retired ex-leader of the capital bureau of public broadcaster ARD.
Former diplomat Wolfgang Ischinger, of Munich Security Conference fame, noted that Scholz had brought a “broadsword” to bear.
Now, Berlin is in disarray. The FDP crows about their (nuclear) victory, the Greens are simultaneously relieved and disgruntled, while the SPD is parading their can-do chancellor.
But Scholz may have shot his powder too early: Literature considers wielding the chancellor’s authority as an “ultima ratio”.
In 2008, a collection of scholars wrote that the “political influence” of the chancellor’s authority “is essentially based on their vagueness under substantive law and, above all, on their non-explanation or non-application”.
Once it is used, the magic is gone. No more threat, no more allusions. The “do as I say, or…” is out in the open. And it’s a feat unlikely to be repeated.
“He will not be able to do it a second time,” Deppendorf noted. An influential green MP, Konstantin von Notz, called it “a card you can’t play very often”.
Nuclear power is such an emotional topic in Germany that Scholz, barely one year into the office, was forced to use his most powerful, one-time tool that is best left untouched.
However, electricity is second to gas in the current energy crisis. And the discussion will flare up again in spring.
Still, despite multiple crises, the German government is unlikely to break up prematurely. Instead, they may squabble in ways that will make observers cringe.
With leading Greens sharing misleading graphs on the cost of nuclear to rally their followers, it appears it has already begun.
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The Roundup
Europe must start thinking about energy security in the long term, the chairwoman of the French energy regulator told EURACTIV France in an interview, warning also that France was not certain to go through the winter unscathed because of possible problems with electricity supply.
The Czech presidency circulated a second compromise on the Chips Act last week, addressing outstanding points such as the proposal’s scope, formation of consortia and emergency measures.
Fertilisers from livestock manure could be key to reducing costs and increasing independence from non-EU countries, according to EU27 agriculture ministers and the European Commission.
Inflation, combined with the Commission’s push to achieve its Green Deal ambitions, is threatening the budget for the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, according to a new report by the think tank Farm Europe.
The European Parliament urged the Schengen member states on Tuesday to allow Romania and Bulgaria to join the EU free movement area without further delay.
German MEPs are the most influential in the European Parliament, in addition to holding the presidency of the European Commission, according to new research published on Tuesday.
Centre-left parties should reject any dialogue with the far right in the EU countries, said leaders at a Party of European Socialists (PES) congress held at the weekend in Berlin.
In a letter to the EU Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights, nine European ministers have called for “an effective and strong, but rebuttable, legal presumption” as part of negotiations on the platform workers directive.
Finally, don’t forget to check out this week’s Transport Brief: MEPs make waves ahead of maritime fuel vote.
Look out for…
- Tripartite social summit to discuss the energy and cost of living crises and measures to tackle them.
- Neighbourhood Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi meets with the Committee of Ministers.
- European Economic and Social Committee semiconductors study group hearing.
Views are the author’s.
[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald/Zoran Radosavljevic]
Source: euractiv.com
