Submitted by Thomas Kolbe
If the Union had been waiting for a favorable moment to save face and quietly escape the energy-policy fiasco, that moment has probably arrived. On Thursday, the European Parliament formed a broad coalition of the Union-backed EPP faction with the national conservatives. The goal: initiate a migration turnaround, prevent citizen chat controls, and soften the grotesque Supply Chain Act.
Among the national-conservative parties in the EU Parliament is also the AfD faction, showing that the firewall against this party is a German phenomenon—a product of hysterical left-green media makers and bloated politicians of the firewall cartel, who fear competition for their privileges.
Never has the opportunity been more favorable to leave the paralyzing logic of the firewall behind once and for all and to form national-civic coalitions than today.
Time is pressing. Germans face a wave of inflation already visible at gas stations and in heating costs. Citizens are approaching a defining initiation moment of truth. Since the beginning of the Iran crisis, fuel prices in Germany have risen by up to 25 percent on average. Gas prices rose another 20 percent in the same period. Going back to 2005, electricity prices in Germany rose a staggering 70 percent—an undeniable proof of the catastrophic failure of the Energiewende.
What the green central planners have left behind can hardly be called energy-market design in the proper sense. On the ruins of a once well-oiled, highly complex structure and the blown-up cooling towers of nuclear plants, a system with built-in fragility has arisen. In a crisis, there are neither sufficient reserves nor systemic resilience against blackouts and the looming economic super-disaster. Above it all hangs the Damocles sword of potential crises that could erupt anywhere in the world at any time and directly hit Germany.
Hormuz reveals the extent of this fragility and exposes the unbelievable hypocrisy behind the green transformation. The story of sun and wind bringing free energy was from the start a bitter fairy tale for anyone not drunk on Trittin, Habeck, and Merkel’s chatter. A mood is brewing, ranging from deep anger to utter contempt for the cult-like transformation ideology.
It is no longer hideable: green transformation is a code word for establishing a vulgar, aggressive extraction mechanism fueled by climate apocalypse fears and moralizing degrowth ideology.
A turn toward modern forms of nuclear energy and the development of Germany’s own enormous gas reserves must now be undertaken—never has public willingness to accept fracking been greater, as the economic crisis sinks into general awareness. Reasonable policy would return to the negotiating table with Russia to urgently discuss resuming gas deliveries. Belgium’s Prime Minister Bart de Wever also called for this. He is far from alone in this view. Hungary, Slovakia, and Italy are forming a real opposition that Brussels will have to reckon with.
But for now, paralysis dominates in the face of economic fallout.
It is painfully clear: Friedrich Merz and his economic minister Katherina Reiche have so far not grasped the extent of the crisis. They rely on the continuity of the green transformation and do not understand that this very construct is both the cause and the end point of the crisis. The bridge that they could now cross together with the AfD has so far been ignored. Reiche did discuss the strategic errors of German energy policy surprisingly openly last week. A possible extension of coal use is suddenly back on the table. But largely, the course remains. Together with Environment Minister Carsten Schneider, Reiche helped secure existing climate policy. Another eight billion euros will be pumped into the green patronage economy. The CO2 market and the ban on combustion engines are held fast.
Beneath it all, green hippie politics shines through like a monolith, blocking any reform effort. Strategic thinking is now needed, beginning with an honest stocktaking to make citizens aware of the true weight of political errors over the past decades. Everyone must understand: there is no simple solution. Politically induced artificial scarcity in the energy sector cannot be erased by chancellor decree.
Or will we possibly start a course correction and dare a 180-degree turn in energy policy? Ideology must give way to reason, green bubble politics to economic prudence, state interventionism to real market design. These are the pillars of the bridge that would then need strengthening and expansion.
But Friedrich Merz is not the Pontifex Maximus we need. He resists all criticism of Brussels’ transformation policies, defends the CO2 certificate trade to the bitter end, and is now preparing, together with his socialist SPD allies, a massive tax hit on the middle class. This man, along with the Union’s leadership team, stands in the way of the future. Merz is the antagonist of the national-conservative turnaround, one of many executors of green hippie politics.
Future national-conservative or national-liberal governments will waste no time fully exposing fiscal fraud, deception, and ideological madness—such as the climate complex. Restoring balance to Germany’s budget, halting Ukraine aid, ending transfers to the green complex, Brussels, and NGOs worldwide will be easy. Necessary social-state reforms, including programs to return illegal migrants, will follow.
As the crisis deepens in the coming years, patriots will gain massive support. This includes libertarians and European cultural patriots, who express their passion for homeland, their will to repair past economic damage, and their desire to preserve Europe’s cultural diversity authentically.
The willingness of people to embrace a reform course, when recognized as contributors to society again, will be overwhelming. Politicians like Katherina Reiche will regret not being part of this turnaround. No bridge will be built for today’s fence-sitters and opportunistic turncoats into future political responsibility.
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About the author: Thomas Kolbe is a German graduate economist. For over 25 years, he has worked as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination
