Robert Habeck and Patrick Graichen face the Bundestag in the best man affair. In the end, a lot remains unclear – including whether Graichen can really be held.
It’s not quite five to twelve when Robert Habeck and Patrick Graichen get into an elevator. It goes up, from the ground floor of the Bundestag to the third floor. So the political symbolism could be worse this Wednesday.
However, that was it with the good news for the two of them. Because the appointment to which the Vice Chancellor and his State Secretary go could hardly be more delicate. In the Bundestag, they have to try to explain to the committees for economics and climate protection what many in Berlin believe cannot be explained: Why does Habeck’s State Secretary Graichen only notice so late that it is a problem if he asks his best man for a well-paid one job recommends?
For more than two hours, they answer questions from MPs. In the end nobody will be really satisfied. Whether Graichen still has to go, although Habeck is defending him again, remains uncertain. In any case, the Union has long had bigger plans. They don’t just want Graichen to leave. They have long been targeting Habeck himself.
“Godfather of the Graichen clan”
The opposition sharpened the tone considerably on Tuesday. “Robert Habeck is the godfather of the Graichen clan”said the head of the CSU state group, Alexander Dobrindt. “And that’s why it has to be formulated very clearly that this is not a Graichen affair, but a Habeck affair.”
The Greens didn’t think it was funny at all. Even in the committee, Habeck complained right at the beginning “harshness and malice”. Insinuations and untruths would be brought into the world, “everything mixed up with everything”he says according to participants.
Even when Habeck stands in front of the cameras after the meeting, his displeasure has not yet evaporated. He speaks of one “Web of insinuations, untruths and half-truths”von “Exaggerations, malice and insinuations”. He criticizes them “wild debate” and that the whole Ministry of Economy “insulted” had been.
How upset Habeck is can also be seen in a scene in the committee itself. When he was questioned there by the AfD, there was an excited back and forth, a war of words. At some point, Habeck threatened to sue the AfD because they spoke of parasitic structures in the Ministry of Economic Affairs. This is how participants describe it.
Battle of interpretation before the start
Even journalists cannot follow what exactly happens in the session. The traffic light coalition could not agree to make them public. Even if Habeck himself says at the beginning of the meeting according to the information: “I would have been happy if the public could have participated.”
Even the question of the public leads to an angry battle of interpretation. The Union accuses the complete traffic light of preventing transparency. The Greens emphasize that they actually wanted a public meeting, but were unable to assert themselves in the coalition. In the end, the compromise is that a word record should be published quickly.
Of course, the Greens and the Union also disagree on the assessment of the meeting. CDU politician Julia Klöckner says afterwards that she has “serious doubts about the suitability of State Secretary Graichen”, the meeting would have confirmed that again. It be again “succinctly” spoken of as a mistake. It is one “clear violation of the code of conduct”.
But Klöckner not only criticizes the best man affair and Graichen. what she “bustle”she says, they are “interdependencies” in and around the Ministry. The “tight braid” from families, friends, one “Energiecommunity”, which confirms itself with expert opinions what the ministry is submitting to it. That damages trust in decisions that affect a lot of people.
