BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Following the hearings of Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck and Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (both Greens), the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag still has questions about the decision-making process before the German nuclear phase-out. "Even after the special sessions on Friday, a great many questions remain unanswered," said Union faction deputy leader Steffen Bilger (CDU) to the German Press Agency in Berlin.

The background to this is a report by "Cicero" on the decision-making process within the green-led Ministry for Economic Affairs and the Environment prior to the German nuclear phase-out. Both ministries reject the claim that internal concerns about the nuclear phase-out planned for the following year were suppressed. The magazine had won access to the files in court. In his hearing on Friday, Habeck promised to send the complete documents to the Bundestag, which Bilger once again demanded.

"However, it is already clear from the information available so far that the federal government's decision to phase out nuclear power was deliberately not based on the expertise of the technical level and that memos were deliberately rewritten," said Bilger. "Ministers Habeck and Lemke have so far been unable to dispel the suspicion that the green party program takes precedence over the common good - quite the opposite."

MPs from the CDU and CSU have sent questions to the Ministry of Economics and the Ministry of the Environment. Several questions are aimed at the handling of a draft memo from employees of the Ministry of Economic Affairs dated March 3, 2022. In the paper, they raised the question of whether it could make sense to continue operating the German nuclear power plants, listed arguments for this and recommended an examination. The MPs also want to know why they only received an excerpt of the documents that "Cicero" received after its successful legal dispute before last Friday's special sessions. The more than 30 questions are available to dpa.

According to Habeck, he himself and his ministry examined the question of the possible continued operation of the German nuclear power plants at an early stage. The Greens had long opposed such an extension, but ultimately supported the concept presented by Habeck and the nuclear power plant operators in September 2022 of a temporary operational reserve for two of the last three German nuclear power plants. The FDP was in favor of a longer lifespan. In October 2022, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) then put his foot down in favor of the continued operation of all three nuclear power plants until spring /hrz/DP/zb