Remember that the government in Germany is a center-right coalition. Germany may not be as deep into nuclear energy as France but this is still very big news. Changing energy sources won't be easy but if Germany can show that it works, it will be hard to argue against such a significant change for other countries. CNN:
Minister of Ecology Norbert Roettgen of the Christian Democratic Union party made the announcement early Monday after negotiations with coalition partner, the Liberal Party, which had been opposed to setting a date for decommissioning the nuclear facilities.
Opposition parties have long supported shuttering nuclear energy in Germany
"The decision looks like this," Roettgen said. "Seven older nuclear power plants ... and the nuclear plant Kruemmel will not go back online ... a second group of six nuclear reactors will go offline at the end of 2021 at the latest, and ... the three most modern, newest nuclear plants will go offline in 2022 at the latest."
