German government still not committed to fuel-rod tax

Aug 31, 2010, 17:00 GMT

Berlin - A 'fuel-rod' tax which German leaders foreshadowed in July is still not settled government policy, and Germany is negotiating with nuclear plant operators on possible alternatives, according to government documents leaked Tuesday.

When Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the tax proposal, she said it would raise 2.3 billion euros (2.9 billion dollars) annually to plug Germany's fiscal deficit. But the power industry protested.

The German Press Agency dpa obtained a draft of the fuel-rod tax bill carrying a note that Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is to continue talks till the end of September with the industry on alternatives.

'How a comparable solution via a public-law treaty between the federal government and the energy supply companies could be achieved is to be studied,' the document said.

It was marked up to be submitted 'for affirmative acknowledgement' at a meeting on Wednesday of Merkel's cabinet.

Merkel has said the government will not decide the future of the nuclear industry until September 28. Germany's 17 nuclear reactors are all supposed to close by about 2022 but Berlin is considering a time extension.

That plan has triggered fierce controversy in Germany, where a previous coalition of Social Democrats and Greens passed sunset legislation for the plants after years of sometimes violent anti-nuclear demonstrations.

Squeezing money from the four powerful companies that run the power plants has been portrayed by Berlin as a method of pushing them to develop more non-nuclear power plants that use wind and solar power.