gotchanewsdaily.com 
Germany, as a result, is the European Union’s industrial leader in producing green infrastructure, having the most facilities for producing solar and wind technology. It has the second-most facilities for making of heat pumps, trailing Italy.
Merz, however, suggested he would radically change course.
“In recent years, we have agreed often enough on which [energy resource] we will phase out,” he said during his speech, mentioning both coal and nuclear energy. “But as long as we don’t have a replacement, decommissioning what we have is out of the question. If we continue to do this, we will massively jeopardize Germany as an industrial location, and we are not prepared to do that.”
GERMANY NATIONAL PARLIAMENT POLL OF POLLS
For more polling data from across Europe visit POLITICO Poll of Polls.
Merz and his conservative alliance are polling at 31 percent support, putting them in pole position to lead Germany’s next coalition government after the country’s Feb. 23 election. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is polling second with 21 percent support.
The problem for Merz is that, given the AfD’s strength, his conservatives are almost certain to have to govern with the SPD or the Greens, the parties that pushed the policies he’s railing against. Merz has ruled out a coalition with the AfD.
During his Bochum visit, Merz also expressed skepticism of the previous government’s focus on “green steel,” steelworks powered by hydrogen derived from renewable power, saying in a panel discussion that he does not “believe that the rapid switch to hydrogen-powered steelworks will be successful.”
