V a t t e n f a l l - Sweden´s other face

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on October 5th, 2001 by Members of the Green
(Miljöpartiet de gröna - mp), Left (Vänsterpartiet - v),
Liberal (Folkpartiet liberalerna - fp), Center (Center Partiet - c) and Christian Democrats (Kristdemokraterna - kd) Parties
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"Vattenfall and Brown Coal Mining in Germany"
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1 List of contents
1 List of contents
2 Draft resolution
3 Activities of Vattenfall AB in eastern Germany
4 Vattenfall AB does not fulfil its own ethical demands -
2 Draft resolution
The Riksdag resolves, that the Government order Vattenfall AB by means of a shareholder's directive to fulfil its own environment-related ethical principles and to save the officially listed and protected Sorb village of Horno in eastern Germany and prevent the compulsory resettlement of its inhabitants.
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3 Activities of Vattenfall AB in eastern Germany
As the main owner of the electricity supplier VEAG and the mining company LAUBAG, the Swedish Vattenfall AB is responsible for extensive damage to the environment and the destruction of an inestimable cultural heritage in eastern Germany. Within the scope of its expansion, Vattenfall has among other things acquired a mining field beneath the culturally invaluable Sorb village of Horno. In April of this year the Swedish state-owned Vattenfall AB increased its shareholding in Hamburgische Electricitäts-Werke (HEW) from 37.2% to 71.3%. HEW itself aquired for 13 billion Swedish Krone approximately 95% of the shares of the electricity generator and supplier Vereinigte Energiewerke AG (VEAG) and the Lausitzer Braunkohle AG (LAUBAG). The purchase of German coal companies represents the third step in Vattenfalls expansion in Germany. Through its investment in LAUBAG and VEAG has taken over not only major interests in coal-mining and power companies, but also a lot of problems. The brown-coal strip-mines in eastern Germany cause not only widespread devastation of landscape and environment but also the annihilation of Sorb culture.
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The wounds left by brown-coal mining are not particulary nice. Even when the attempt is made to recreate a living landscape, the former mining sites often resemble huge moonscapes or waste pits surrounded by warning signs.
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The around 60 000 Sorbs represent one of the four ethnic minorities in Germany. Between 1945 and 1989 more than 70 Sorb villages in Brandenburg and Saxony were wiped from the map by brown-coal strip-mining. Altogether, some 25 000 people were resettled. And now, for the first time since German reunification a Sorb village is once again to be sacrificed to brown coal mining – Horno (Sorb: Rogow).
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