[thomascarney]

SPD (center-left leaning party) has been junior partners in every one but one of those conservative governments.

German politics are also very collaborative/compromise driven, so it's a mistake to think the outcome would have been drastically different, had we had a SPD/Green coalition rather than a CDU/SPD coalition the last 16 years.

This is especially the case, given that parts of the SPD were and continue to be on Russian payroll.

Ultimately, renewables are very challenging from a technical perspective for a densely populated country with energy intensive industries and limited offshore wind options.