Scholz supports Tesla expansion and condemns attack on power supply
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said he supports the planned expansion of the only European plant of US electric car manufacturer Tesla, whose power lines at its plant in Grünheide near Berlin were recently attacked.
He hopes that Tesla will develop just as well in Brandenburg as Ford has in Cologne, where the US carmaker has had a plant for almost 100 years, Scholz told Thursday’s edition of the Märkische Allgemeine newspaper.
“That’s why I’m in favour of further expanding the plant.”
Tesla wants to double its planned production of 500,000 cars per year, compared to the current projected figure of around 300,000. Environmentalists and local residents have major concerns about this because the plant is partly located in a water conservation area. There are currently also protests by environmental activists against a planned expansion with a goods station and logistics areas.
The chancellor condemned the recent attack on an electricity pylon near the factory, which was set on fire at the beginning of March. The fire caused a power outage which put production at the plant on hold for almost a week.
“This was an act of terrorism,” said Scholz. “The police and security authorities must do everything they can to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice.”
A left-wing extremist group claimed that it had carried out the attack. The Federal Prosecutor General is investigating.
Scholz said there was a need for stronger protection for important plants. However, he does not yet see any negative consequences for investments in Germany as a business location following the incident.
“I have just broken ground for a large battery factory in Schleswig-Holstein that involves several billion in investment. I will soon be involved in a major pharmaceutical investment of a similar magnitude,” he said in the newspaper interview.
Credit: DPA
