After the allegations against the Green Chancellor candidate Baerbock, co-party leader Habeck speaks up.
He emphasizes that you don't need a “restart” - but also makes it clear that the past few weeks have not been “a masterpiece” from his point of view.
Berlin - In view of the ongoing criticism of the Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock, co-party leader Robert Habeck has assured that changing the candidate for chancellor is not an issue.
“This is Kokolores,” said Habeck, who himself had been a candidate for a long time, to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (Saturday). The Greens had only just elected Baerbock as their candidate for chancellor with almost one hundred percent. "Now it's a matter of making the best of this leap of faith that the party has given them."
According to a spokeswoman for the Greens, Baerbock has meanwhile asked the party-affiliated Heinrich Böll Foundation to “take another look at a situation that was now almost ten years ago” in connection with a doctoral scholarship from the foundation at the time. The reason for this are media inquiries about the scholarship. According to a “Tagesspiegel” report, Baerbock received more than 40,000 euros between 2009 and 2012. She had not completed her doctoral thesis in the field of international law. The "Bild" newspaper also reported on the move on Saturday.
The Chancellor candidate of the Greens is under criticism because in her book “Jetzt.
How we are renewing our country ”find striking linguistic similarities to other publications.
It had previously become known that she had belatedly reported the party's special payments to the Bundestag.
The party and candidate also had to correct information in Baerbock's curriculum vitae.
"These processes were surprising for everyone," said Habeck.
“If we had known that the jobs should have been more solid, the work would have been more solid.” But he also stated that in the two months leading up to the election evening on September 26th, one could make it clear that “trust in the right one Politics should determine the vote ”.
He still sees great opportunities to “gain trust in this precious good”.
Never thought about switching
When asked “You never talked about a move?
Never thought about it? ", Habeck replied:" No.
This is not a debate. ”At the same time he said that there had been technical errors, which Baerbock had also admitted.
Baerbock was proposed as candidate for chancellor by the federal executive of the Greens in April and confirmed by the party congress in June.
Co-party leader Robert Habeck also had ambitions for the candidacy for chancellor, but then hesitated.
"Have to chalk up mistakes ourselves"
He emphasized that it was clear that "with the proclamation of a candidate for chancellor a personalization sets in".
The Greens had hoped to be able to use this personalization to put their issues forward.
“In this respect, we have to chalk ourselves up for our mistakes.” It is not the job of others to “protect ourselves from them.
Our opponents can criticize us.
It is an election campaign ”.
Habeck assured: “We don't need a fresh start.” He also protested against the impression that the race for the Chancellery was over.
“Nothing went,” he emphasized.
The last few weeks were "not a masterpiece".
"But we are still in very good shape - good enough to have a brilliant election campaign with friendliness and joy and the ease of summer."
At the same time, Habeck took an offensive approach to the political competition. For example, he described the Union's campaign as an “illustration of dubiousness”. The Union said it wanted to protect the climate and create new jobs, but had badly damaged the solar industry and slowed down wind energy. “And Armin Laschet says he wants a decade of modernization. Yes, who has ruled for the last decade and a half? ”Said Habeck. "The Union fakes politics for lack of answers."
In connection with Baerbock's incomplete doctoral process, the "Bild" newspaper reported on Saturday that the Böll Foundation was subject to a funding policy from the Ministry of Research. According to this, people should not receive a scholarship who “worked for more than one eighth of the regular weekly working hours” or “another activity that predominantly uses the manpower of the sponsored person”.
The spokeswoman for the Greens pointed out in her statement that Baerbock had not received a salary during his time as Brandenburg state chairman of the Greens, a member of the Greens board and as spokeswoman for the Federal Working Group on Europe.
It was not until 2011 that she received from the Brandenburg State Association "in the sense of an expense allowance of 226.76 euros per month" and then in 2012 she received 400 euros per month.
From 2013 there was a regular salary, but Baerbock no longer received a doctoral scholarship.
"Ms. Baerbock's main focus during these years was on working on her doctoral project. The party-political, essentially voluntary commitment took place in the evenings and on weekends," the spokeswoman continued.
dpa