In the debate about an earlier phase-out of coal, Brandenburg's Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) once again called on the Federal Ministry of Economics to create the conditions for this. It is now up to the federal government "to say where the electricity should come from, for example, if we get out of coal, and then go into a social process, talk to the people and employees in the region," said Woidke on Monday in Guben .

In the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung" Woidke had said that he thought an earlier exit from coal in East Germany was conceivable. "Maybe it's possible that we can do it in 2032 or 2033." However, certain conditions must be met for this to happen. He also proposes a "Commission on the Future of Energy Supply".

For an earlier phase-out of coal, the federal law would have to be changed in a next step, Woidke made clear in Guben. This is not possible without a social discussion in the affected regions. The current legal situation is a coal exit in 2038 or 2035. "This is about the energy supply of our country and thus about the stability and economic development (...)" It is not about a few thousand jobs at the energy company Leag but by many thousands of jobs in Germany. That is why not only a secure but also an affordable energy supply is needed. "But Mr. Habeck has to bring the proof," said Brandenburg's head of government.