Instead, the necessary talks will be held at the ministerial level, the Handelsblatt business newspaper reported Friday.

A round of talks concerning energy policy is planned for May 18, but only energy associations and not individual companies have been invited.

Formal discussion in the Bundestag about how to handle the nuclear energy issue will likely take place in June.

“A thorough parliamentary debate on such important bills must be granted,” Bundestag Vice President Gerda Hasselfeldt told the Financial Times Deutschland.

Merkel’s centre-right coalition decided last year to push back Germany’s planned phaseout of nuclear power. But Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster following an earthquake and tsunami caused her government to reverse its position and accelerate the decommissioning of Germany’s reactors.

Some of Germany’s leading power companies have expressed their annoyance at Merkel’s decision to impose a three-month moratorium for extensive safety testing of the country’s nuclear plants.

The Local/mdm