The government of Angela Merkel has been in trouble for awhile. Her agreement several months ago with the electric companies, which lengthened the terms of use of the nuclear power plants, was difficult for the German population to digest.

After Fukishima demonstrated the dangers of nuclear energy, the German people have taken to the streets and the government is trying to navigate the storm.

“If you don’t know what to do, create a commission”, said the Hamburger Abendblatt ironically. The prime minister responded with the creation of two: one ethical, trying to find a no-strings-attached exit from nuclear energy by 2020, and another to evaluate those that are currently functioning. Their members have already demonstrated that the three month term which has been proposed is insufficient. They say that, realistically, they will need two years to be able to do a serious study. Two years with the plants shut down? The electric companies assure that this is not possible. Meanwhile, the German people threaten not to pay taxes for the reactors which are not in operation.

A conflict with France is also coming unraveled because of the Cattenom plant 25km from the German border, which in its 25 year history has had 750 recorded incidents. The French government says it will be using it until 2050, which the Germans rejected. This may even spark a change in political sensibilities in the Sarre region, led since 1952 by the CDU, the party of Angela Merkel.

“Greens and social democrats are calling to change the elections on Sunday in Baden-Wurttemburg into a plebiscite on the future of nuclear energy”, claims Rafael Poch in the Vanguardia.

Germany, which uses Russian energy, didn’t need to enter into the attack on Gadaffi. The British and French governments should deal with the agreements signed with the dictator, which put the stability of their megapetroleum producers BP and Total at risk. The English company has made investments of more than 15 billion pounds sterling and knows that it could make better use of this money if it has a government in Libya which is dependent and grateful for the effort made by the British Army.

It is curious that a country which is bankrupt is capable of embarking in a war only to protect the oil business. It is a clear demonstration of the strategic and economic importance of the black gold.

Libya has 3.5 % of the world’s reserves, which is more than double the reserves that has, for example, the United States, another country which is very interested in closely controlling the planet’s energy resources and which allows them to wrap things up after Iraq and Syria in order to get closer to the oil wells of Sudan and later Iran. At least, these are the plans which the retired general Wesley Clark has denounced in Democracy Now!

**The financial crisis**

On the other hand, the European economies continue to be in crisis and the negotiations are permanent in Brussels, agreeing and disagreeing on lending and exchanging in all imaginable directions.

Jose Socrates, the Portuguese president, is being pressured by the people to show his disapproval, although he continues being the interlocutor in front of the European Commission. It is interesting to note that Belgium has gone two years with no president, after the dissolution of the council of ministers. The democratic inertia allows the country to continue functioning, although with the threat of fragmentation due to the internal struggle between Walloons and Flemings.

The earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan, in addition to the radioactivity problem which followed, plus the earthquake in New Zealand and the serious flooding in Australia, have practically left the big security companies broke, among which stands out the English group Lloyd’s. In Chile after the earthquake, Lloyd’s was owing $1.4 billion. And we are talking about a country on the periphery, whose presence is not as notable as the aforementioned cases.

The European Economic Community is continuing to put pressure on Iceland to pay the English and Dutch speculators who have put their money in Icesaved, which went broke last year. The Icelandic parliament, obedient to Europe because it wants to become part of the Community, stipulated payments of 3.5 billion euro’s to these speculative funds with new loans which the entire country should pay, but the president vetoed the decision, forcing a referendum. 93% of the islanders were against going back and paying to save their banks (in 2009 they had already nationalized the debts of the three largest banks who had gone broke and lost the savings of all the inhabitants of the island).

The parliament continued to insist on the payment, and the president continued to veto. In April there will be a new referendum despite the uncertainty about the result, since the pro-European campaign is quite strong.

*translation by Meghan Storey*