Germany will no longer issue credit guarantees to exporters selling nuclear material in risky markets. But many developing nations could use a zero-emissions source like nuclear.

The EU is officially investigating Germany’s green policies to determine if they violate the bloc’s competition rules. On Wednesday the European Commission announced it was opening a probe of Merkel’s policy of exempting her country’s most energy-intensive firms from green surcharges tacked on to electricity bills to subsidize the cost of expensive renewables.

According to a draft letter received by Angela Merkel’s government in Berlin, the EU is finally opening up an investigation into Germany’s green policies to see whether its exemptions to green energy surcharges, extended to Germany’s most energy-intensive companies, are giving the firms an unfair advantage. Germany’s energy policy isn’t just ill-conceived, it might also be illegal.

Feed-in tariffs for green energy are making many German farmers rich, though German households and businesses are bearing the cost through higher electricity prices.