It’s like in marriage: Nonsense has charm – but in the end (at least) one pays more.

If I want to go out to eat with my wife and she says she wants to go to an Asian restaurant, but I want my favorite Italian, what do we do then? First there is sushi and fried rice, then pizza, pasta, pannacotta. At the end of the day, we’re as round as a ball, broke, and no one can tell which continent the scent that escapes with constant belching comes from. You can’t have a marriage like that. Not even when there’s a lot of pressure to stick together because the mother-in-law is at war.

Actually, it’s none of your business. Because in normal times, the private and the political are further apart than our bearded fathers always claimed. But since Christian Lindner stepped before God and the Sylter Zanzibar with his Franca, that no longer applies, at least for the traffic light coalition. On a quiet weekend like the last one, a discussion along the lines of the Italian-Asian controversy could flare up: since gas is getting scarce, we’ll just let the nuclear power plants run longer – cheers from the FDP. And in return there is a speed limit on the Autobahn – cheers from the rest of the government. Everyone happy except Putin? What a nonsense.

In this game, nuclear power is an Asian restaurant whose fish is very close to the rotten limit, which charges completely exorbitant prices and whose German food can’t fill anyone’s appetite due to a phenomenon that has not yet been fully explained. Plus, years after the visit, the store sends hefty bills to dispose of the large and toxic leftovers on the plates. Even the landlord is tired and wants to get out. Unless you give him more money.

Nuclear power extension: Many problems, little profit

Not in the game, but in reality, the German nuclear power production consists of three remaining reactors, which are to be switched off at the end of the year. If they continue to run, about one percent of Germany’s gas requirements could be saved. For that to work, gigantic problems would have to be overcome – from liability risks to fuel procurement to safety checks and the question of who should actually operate the things.

As a measure for energy supply, this is gross nonsense. The requirement is good politics anyway. It distracts from the fact that the FDP can’t think of much else. It puts the notoriously successful Greens under pressure. If it gets really cold in winter, the liberal supercheckers can say: “If only you had listened to us!” Brilliant. The Porsche driving FDP leader Christian Lindner would not be as good as he is if he had not understood that it is not enough to simply demand something. You also have to give. For example a speed limit. The right to frenzy cannot be upheld anyway. You can sell it to the others at the traffic light for longer nuclear lifetimes – it costs them reason and their identity, they pay with arguments within their own ranks. Wonderful. For the FDP. Not for the country. And that’s what the demand was about, that the bickering between the parties should now be over. Or?