Habeck: “It’s one mistake too many”
Updated on 05/17/2023 – 12:58 p.mReading time: 2 min.
Controversial politician: Habeck’s State Secretary Graichen leaves the ministry. (What: Reuters)
Robert Habeck’s State Secretary Patrick Graichen will vacate his post. Now the Economics Minister explained the decision in a press conference.
Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Patrick Graichen has to vacate his post as a result of further internal audits. That said Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (both Greens) on Wednesday in Berlin. Habeck’s previous top employee should be put on temporary retirement.
At a press conference, Habeck now explained the background to this step: The decisive factor was therefore a fact that had not been publicly discussed before. Habeck himself has only known about it since Tuesday last week.
Graichen has to go because of a compliance violation
In November 2022, Graichen approved a list of “project outlines”. One of them was about a project by the Berlin regional association of the Federal Environment and Nature Conservation Association (BUND), on whose board Graichen’s sister sat.
The decisive project, which involved a sum of 600,000 euros, was classified as eligible for funding, so a final decision was only a formality. Money has not yet flowed, said Habeck.
The mistake: The process should not have been presented to Graichen, nor should he have signed it. It is a compliance violation, i.e. a violation of internal ethics rules.
“It’s one mistake too many,” said the Economics Minister. The decision that Graichen had to vacate his post was made in a joint meeting on Tuesday evening.
“This is a far-reaching, difficult decision”
“This is a far-reaching, difficult decision – far-reaching for my house, difficult for me and very hard for Patrick Graichen. But it’s about protecting trust in the work of this house as an institution. It’s about maintaining the political ability to act “Habeck continued.
Graichen originally came under criticism because his best man had been selected as the new head of the state-owned German Energy Agency. The Secretary of State for Economic Affairs was involved in the pre-selection process and initially did not make the relationship transparent. Habeck and his ministry then took the reporting as an opportunity to review the compliance procedures.
“People make mistakes,” said Habeck. But too many things happened here. A successor should be found as soon as possible, ideally before the parliamentary summer recess.
With a smile, Habeck added at the end of the press conference: “I will not appoint my best man as State Secretary.”
