Economics Minister Robert Habeck wants to save his ailing State Secretary. The Greens could pay a high price for this.
Robert Habeck is apparently determined to stick to his guns: Patrick Graichen shouldn’t go. The outrage over Graichen’s role in the election of the new Dena boss has been growing for weeks, the pressure on the controversial state secretary and the minister is increasing. But Habeck wants to take a chance.
There are understandable reasons for that Hold onto – Graichen knows like no other what needs to be done where and at what speed in order to keep the ambitious goal of climate neutrality by 2045 within the realms of possibility.
Best man affair: Patrick Graichen is not irreplaceable either
But he is not irreplaceable either. And with each passing day that the discussion about the Secretary of State goes on, the potential for collateral damage grows. Habeck has to weigh up what weighs more heavily – losing Graichen and slowing down the turn to climate neutrality. Or to hold on to him and thus enable another week-long debate in which not only Graichen but also Habeck himself is further damaged – and in the end probably his actual project as well.
Because the resistance to the Greens’ plans to restructure the economy and the country was already great. The new Building Energy Act For example, which is intended to herald the phasing out of fossil fuel heating systems, is at the heart of Habeck’s climate policy agenda, but is spectacularly unpopular with many people and also with some coalition partners.
If the vice chancellor wants to get it through the parliamentary process successfully, he will need all the political capital that he can mobilize. If he hasn’t already spent it to save his Secretary of State.
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