Green youth leader calls for nationalization of German energy giants

The co-chair of the German Green Party's youth wing, Jakob Blasel, is calling for Germany to nationalize major energy and steel companies to fight climate change.

Blasel, from the Green Youth, told the Spiegel news magazine that the RWE and LEAG energy companies, as well as Germany's largest steel manufacturer, Thyssenkrupp, should be expropriated.

"These are the three most climate-damaging companies. Germany could and should nationalize these companies," Blasel said in an interview published by the magazine on Saturday.

He accused the companies of being guided solely by short-term profit and stock markets. "But if they are in the hands of consumers and workers, the incentive to operate sustainably increases. Because no one wants to work for a company that is destroying their own future."

Blasel said he is aware his proposal goes beyond what is currently being discussed politically. "But what is currently happening politically is not enough to combat climate change," he said, adding that the fight is being undermined by "fossil fuel lobbyists."

Employees in companies that work with fossil fuels should be given prospects in other areas, Blasel also suggested.

"Anyone who currently has a permanent job and benefits from good collective agreements must be taken on in other non-fossil fuel sectors of companies without any cuts."

The Green Youth traditionally sits to the left of the Green Party on the political spectrum.