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GERMANY AND THE US

‘We don’t eat cats and dogs’: Germany hits back at Trump over energy and pets claims

Germany hit back on Wednesday at claims made by US presidential candidate Donald Trump over the country's energy network - and also mocked his baseless claim that immigrants are eating Americans' pets.

Published: 11 September 2024 15:13 CEST

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to members of the press in the spin room following a presidential debate with US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September 10, 2024. Photo by Matthew Hatcher / AFP

At the end of Trump’s keenly-watched debate with his Democratic rival Kamala Harris on Tuesday, he attacked what he called her refusal to use fracking and fossil fuels.

“Germany tried that and within one year they were back to building normal energy plants,” Trump said.

The German foreign ministry responded on X: “Like it or not: Germany’s energy system is fully operational, with more than 50 percent renewables”.

The ministry, in the post on its English-language account, reminded Trump that “we are shutting down – not building – coal & nuclear plants” and that Germany was aiming for coal to “be off the grid by 2038 at the latest”.

The German government was criticised by climate activists for the temporary reopening of coal-fired power stations in 2022 and increased imports of liquefied natural gas after Russia slashed energy supplies following its invasion of Ukraine.

Since then Berlin has managed to pare back the use of fossil fuels.

In the first half of this year the share of renewables in electricity generation stood at 61 percent, while coal accounted for just 23 percent.

At a press conference on Wednesday a government spokesman said that “we took note of (Trump’s comments) with some surprise,” adding: “I didn’t know what the presidential candidate meant with this.”

The foreign ministry also took the opportunity to make light of Trump’s baseless assertion that immigrants are stealing and eating cats.

“PS: We also don’t eat cats and dogs,” the foreign ministry said at the end off the X post.

Like it or not: Germany’s energy system is fully operational, with more than 50% renewables. And we are shutting down – not building – coal & nuclear plants. Coal will be off the grid by 2038 at the latest. PS: We also don’t eat cats and dogs. #Debate2024 pic.twitter.com/PiDO98Vxfo

— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) September 11, 2024

During the debate Trump referred to an unfounded claim that Haitian immigrants in the small Ohio city of Springfield are stealing pets for food.

Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance and Republican lawmakers, officials and influencers have all repeated the rumour as a way to vilify immigrants.

Law enforcement authorities have denied the claims.

“There have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” Springfield police said in a statement.

During his presidency Trump repeatedly lashed out at Berlin over topics including military spending and Germany’s strong exports.

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Thousands of jobs have already been lost in the region, where wind farms now rise near abandoned open-pit mines and many people look with dread towards 2038, the deadline for the “coal exit”.

Their fears help explain the strong local support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which does not just rail against migrants but also rejects the green energy push and questions man-made climate change.

At local elections held in Spremberg in June, the AfD scored 39.3 percent – an omen ahead of regional elections next Sunday in the state of Brandenburg, which polls suggest it could win.

Lignite, or brown coal, may be a climate killer, but since the 19th century it has been key to the identity of the Lusatia industrial region on the Polish border, known as the Lausitz in German.

“Thousands of people here have been linked to coal their whole working lives,” said the town’s mayor, Christine Herntier, an independent who has held the post for a decade.

“We are proud of our tradition,” said Herntier, 67, pointing to a huge map on her office wall of the Schwarze Pumpe plant and its surrounding industrial complex.

Most people in Spremberg, population 25,000, have grudgingly accepted the coal phase-out plan, under which the government has earmarked billions for structural transition plans, she said.

But, she added, ahead of the state election the winding down of coal “is still a big issue”.

‘Anger over wind farm’

Michael Hanko, the AfD’s top representative in Spremberg, said he is certain that the looming demise of the lignite industry is “one of the main reasons” residents are voting for his party.

“I don’t think the government has really got them on board with this whole prescribed transformation, saying that we now have to do everything with renewable energies,” Hanko said.

Michael Hanko, the AfD (Alternative for Germany) top candidate, in Spremberg, eastern Germany on, September 9, 2024. Photo by Femke COLBORNE / AFP

The AfD, founded about a decade ago, scored a triumph earlier this month when it won an election in the eastern state of Thuringia and came a close second in Saxony.

It now also has a good chance of winning in Brandenburg, the state that surrounds Berlin, where it is polling narrowly in first place at around 27 percent.

When the German government decided five years ago to phase out coal, it pledged around €40 billion to help coal regions adapt, with €17 billion for the Lausitz alone.

Much of the money is intended to flow into developing the renewables and hydrogen sectors, helping the region maintain its identity as an energy hub.

But residents complain the investment has been too slow to materialise and is flowing into the wrong places.

In Spremberg, plans to extend a nearby wind park have caused outrage among some locals, who fear it will be a threat to 150-year-old trees, a protected swallow species and drinking water.

‘Something different’

Coal has long been synonymous with the Lausitz region, which takes in parts of Brandenburg and Saxony and a small strip of Poland, and where lignite was discovered in the late 18th century.

But the industry all but collapsed after German reunification in 1990, when most of the region’s open pit mines were shut down and thousands of jobs vanished.

Today, only around 8,000 people are employed in the lignite industry across the Lausitz, with 4,500 of them in Brandenburg, though the industry is still one of the largest private employers in the state and coal remains a strong part of the region’s identity.

Already weary from the problems caused by reunification, people in the region have felt “overwhelmed” by recent global challenges, said Lars Katzmarek, a board member of the Pro-Lausitz campaign group.

Lars Katzmarek, board member of the Pro-Lausitz campaign group. Photo by Femke COLBORNE / AFP

“The coronavirus, the energy crisis, the Ukraine war – these are all very difficult things that people still haven’t fully digested… and perhaps at some point they just close their ears,” he said.

On a rainy morning in Spremberg, Joachim Paschke, 81, who used to work in mechanical engineering and welding, was buying bread rolls in the bakery opposite the town hall.

“I’m definitely not an AfD supporter but I can understand people who are,” he said.

“The established parties have nothing concrete and the AfD is offering something different. People want change.”

By Femke COLBORNE