BERLIN/COTTBUS (dpa-AFX) - In the dispute over an early coal phase-out in the east, the group works council of the energy company Leag has canceled its participation in the closed meeting of the Green parliamentary group in the Bundestag. This is the result of an open letter to the parliamentary group published on Monday. The reason is that the Greens want to bring forward the coal phase-out in the east by eight years to 2030. The closed meeting in Weimar begins on Tuesday. The leadership of the parliamentary group reacted with regret and surprise to the cancellation.

The letter from works council chairman Uwe Teubner and his deputy Toralf Smith says the Greens had invited the group works council to the "structural change" item, under which it was to report on how it could succeed. "To put it in a nutshell: Most certainly not by setting an arbitrary new exit date. However, this is clearly precisely the purpose of this retreat." Leag mines lignite in Lusatia and operates power plants.

The Group Works Council points out that the coal commission set up by the German government decided on a "difficult but ultimately workable compromise" for employees in the industry. This provided for a gradual phase-out of coal-fired power generation in Germany by 2038. The Coal Phase-out Act, which is still in force today, and the public law agreement that the Federal Republic of Germany concluded with the companies concerned are based on this compromise. "We stand by this law and this contract."

There was anger and resentment among employees over plans to bring forward the coal phase-out in the east to 2030, Teubner told Deutsche Presse-Agentur on Monday. They didn't want to read the headline that the group's works council was negotiating an early exit with the Greens at the closed-door meeting, hence the cancellation. The power plant units were running at full capacity, and only last year 1000 new employees had been hired.

Parliamentary group chair Katharina Dröge reacted with regret to the cancellation. "For us, dialogue and exchange are important principles of our policy. It is worthwhile to talk, especially when there are different perspectives," she told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur in Berlin. The offer to talk would "of course" remain in place.

"At the same time, we are surprised by the cancellation at short notice. Because, of course, we have provided our guests with the planned decision in advance. The fact that it would also be about the coal phase-out in 2030 was communicated transparently in advance," Dröge emphasized. The media coverage in advance had also been announced. The ARD "Hauptstadtstudio" and the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" had first reported on the draft resolution over the weekend.

Especially when topics are controversial, it pays to talk to each other, Dröge said. "We want planning security and reliability for employees in the region. Only if we shape structural change together will there be great opportunities for jobs and companies in this."

Meanwhile, a coal phase-out brought forward to 2030 has been agreed for the Rhenish coalfield in the west. The Leag Group Works Council criticized the law for containing clear criteria on, among other things, security of supply and energy costs, as well as monitoring dates to review the phase-out. "The RWE deal deviated from this in a way that is unacceptable to us. We are not available for such deals. That's why we don't see any point in a participation fiction as intended with the invitation to us."

A draft resolution for the closed-door meeting of the Green parliamentary group said that a coal phase-out in the east in 2030 as well would be a "necessary step to achieve the climate targets." In the coalition agreement, the SPD, Greens and FDP had agreed to "ideally" bring forward the coal phase-out by eight years to 2030. German Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) had already spoken out in favor of an early coal phase-out in the east, but assured that this would have to be agreed by consensus. Whether the traffic light partners SPD and FDP will play along is open./hoe/DP/ngu