Utilities Win German Court Case on Atomic Exit in Blow to Merkel
- Constitutional court says utilities entitled to compensation
- Government instructed to amend legislation by mid-2018
An employee exits the reactor chamber at RWE’s Emsland nuclear power plant in Lingen, Germany.
Photographer: Jock Fistick/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
RWE AG, EON SE and Vattenfall AB are entitled to compensation for power-production rights they lost through the German government’s decision to exit from nuclear energy, striking a blow to Chancellor Angela Merkel as she prepares her re-election bid.
Judges at the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe said in a landmark ruling Tuesday that a 2011 law on the nation’s shift away from atomic energy failed to tackle compensation for companies that were committed to nuclear-power production. RWE and EON surged.