BERLIN 

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has called Berlin’s exit from nuclear energy a "serious strategic mistake" and criticized previous governments for hastily shutting down the country's last atomic reactors.

Speaking at a business conference in Saxony-Anhalt late Wednesday, Merz directed sharp criticism at the energy policies of his predecessors, including former Chancellor Angela Merkel, for creating the world's costliest energy transition.

"It was a serious strategic mistake to exit nuclear energy," Merz said. "If you were going to do it, you should have at least kept the last remaining nuclear power plants in Germany on the grid three years ago, so that we would have had the same electricity generation capacity.”

He added: "We're now making the most expensive energy transition in the entire world. I don't know of a second country that makes it as difficult and as expensive for itself as Germany does. We set ourselves a goal that we now have to correct, but we simply don't have enough energy generation capacity.”

During last year's election campaign, Merz heavily criticized the Green Party for pursuing what he called "ideologically motivated" energy policy, calling it inefficient and too expensive. Rather than advocating for a return to conventional nuclear operations, he argued that Germany should explore new-generation nuclear technology – specifically, small modular reactors.

Germany shut down its last three nuclear reactors in April 2023, marking the end of more than 60 years of nuclear power generation in Europe's largest economy. The decision to phase out nuclear energy was made in 2011 following the Fukushima disaster in Japan.