al cabinet is expected to make a final decision about the future of nuclear energy at a meeting June 6. The main features of its new energy policy, however, are clear after last night's meeting. At 0817 GMT RWE shares traded lower EUR1 or 2.4% at EUR40.25, while E.ON shares fell EUR0.36 or 1.85 to EUR19.66. Both shares underperformed a broadly firmer market. On Sunday night, Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen announced to reporters following a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Germany would end the use of nuclear energy by 2022 at the very latest. The country's seven oldest nuclear reactors, which have been shut down since mid-March, will never resume power generation, the government said. An eighth power plant--the 1.4-gigawatt reactor Kruemmel that has been glitch-prone and offline for the best part of three years--will also be shut down permanently. The remaining reactors--except for three that will be kept as reserve capacity for an additional year to ensure that energy demand can be met--will be shut down by 2021. The government also said that it plans to keep the new tax on nuclear fuel rods that was introduced at the beginning of the year. The tax is expected to generate proceeds of around EUR2.3 billion per year and was officially introduced to help plug public budget holes. Many observers, however, have also linked the tax to the extension of reactor operating lives, for which the power plant operators had toFrance, who quit May 18 after he was accused of attempting to rape a New York hotel maid. He has denied the allegations. Lagarde will meet with the head of Brazil's Central Bank and also the nation's finance minister, Guido Mantega. In recent years, Mantega has loudly fought for reforms in the IMF, World Bank and other multilateral institutions that would take into account the growth of emerging nations such as Brazil, China and India. "We must establish meritocracy, so that the person leading the IMF is selected for their merits and not for being European," Mantega said earlier this month. "You can have a competent European ... but you can have a representative from an emerging nation who is competent as well." Mantega also has said that whoever is chosen to replace Strauss-Kahn should only hold the job until Strauss-Kahn's term expires at the end of 2012. That, Mantega has argued, would give IMF member nations more time to carefully choose a full-term chief. China has suggested it is time to shake things up at the IMF, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu saying the leadership "should be based on fairness, transparency and merit." South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan spoke in stronger terms earlier this month. He said the new director should come from an emerging economy, to "bring a new perspective that will ensure that the interests of all countries, both developed and developing, are fully reflected in the operations and policies of the IMF." French Embassy spokesman Ste