April 9, 2006: Last week's "energy summit" between leading German energy suppliers and top officials of the German government was proclaimed a success, despite earlier predictions that the meeting would be a failure. Chancellor Angela Merkel invited representatives of top utility companies to a meeting in Berlin with officials from the German government, including representatives of the Environmental Protection and Economy ministries. The meeting was a first step in a consensus effort to determine a long range policy for securing Germany's future energy needs.

Internal wrangling between the two major parties in Germany's coalition government over the possible use of atomic energy beyond the year 2020 had foreshadowed the summit. The coalition agreement between Merkel's conservative CDU/CSU union and the SPD stipulates that there will be no change in the decision made by former chancellor Gerhard Schröder's government to phase out all nuclear power generation in Germany by 2020.

However, the natural gas crisis at the beginning of the year between Russia and the Ukraine and the resulting partial disruption of gas supplies to Western Europe was a shot across the bow for energy-dependent Germany. In recent weeks some CDU/CSU voices have called for a review of the decision to abandon atomic energy. When Gerhard Schröder's government and Germany's energy suppliers agreed in June 2000 to phase out nuclear power, there was no plan in place to replace the generation capacity that will be lost by 2020, and there still isn't any plan. Leading SPD officials are adamant, however, that there will be no backtracking on the phase out as long as their party is part of the current government.

Abandoning nuclear energy presents an environmental challenge for environment-conscious Germans. Since renewable energy sources are not yet available in quantities and at prices that would make up for the energy shortfall from phasing out nuclear plants, energy suppliers have no real alternative in the interim other than building replacement power plants fueled by gas and coal. But Germany imports most of its natural gas, and coal is seen as environmentally unsound. Since the financial feasibility of new plants is based on the assumption that they will be in use for at least 40 years, supporters of nuclear energy argue that allowing the atomic power plants to run beyond 2020 would allow more time for developing alternative energy sources without depending on foreign energy sources or putting the environment at risk.

Under chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany appears to be awakening from its energy blindness. In recent years other countries like China and India and even the United States have recognized the developing worldwide energy supply crisis and have forged economic alliances with suppliers to secure their energy needs in the coming years. Germany's – and Europe's – growing dependence on imported energy will have an increasing impact on the region's future approach to foreign policy.