Germany’s Scholz skirts question around nuclear energy

BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz skirted a question on Friday about differences between Germany and France regarding whether nuclear power should be labelled sustainable and said it was up to every country to choose how to fight climate change.

“Each country pursues its own strategy to fight man-made climate change. What unites us is that we recognise that responsibility and are ambitious,” he said at a joint news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on his first trip abroad as German chancellor.

Germany’s new government, which took over this week, has vowed to step up climate protection efforts with far-reaching reforms, including a faster expansion of renewables and an accelerated coal exit.

“We are concentrating on realizing that programme and thereby making our contribution,” Scholz said on Friday.

(Reporting by Maria Sheahan and Sabine Siebold)