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Robert Habeck
Photo: Filip Singer / EPA
It's not exactly easy for Robert Habeck at the moment.
Criticism of his plan to keep two nuclear power plants as emergency reserves has not abated from various camps.
And then there was the appearance on the ARD program "Maischberger" last weekend.
There, Habeck drew attention to statements about possible insolvencies as a result of the energy crisis.
But now he gets a little stock.
The economist Marcel Fratzscher has defended the Federal Minister of Economics against the accusation that he had galloped with his talk show statement on the risk of insolvency in the energy crisis.
"I don't understand the criticism of Minister of Economics Habeck's statements on bankruptcies, because they are correct," wrote the President of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) on Twitter on Wednesday evening.
When asked on Tuesday evening on ARD whether he was expecting a wave of bankruptcies at the end of this winter, Habeck replied: “No, I don’t.
I can imagine that certain industries will simply stop producing.«
Habeck gave flower shops, health food stores and bakeries as an example because they “depend on people spending money”.
"Then they are not automatically insolvent, but they may stop selling," says Habeck.
That had earned him the accusation that he had no idea.
Fratzscher gave examples where companies cannot produce without necessarily becoming insolvent.
»Some hotels will have to close in winter because there are no customers (many people will travel less because they have higher costs for their basic services) and costs are rising massively (e.g. energy).
Temporary closures are not uncommon in the industry,” he wrote.
And: “If there is a gas shortage, a number of energy-intensive companies will be forced to shut down production.
The state will only be able to do this if it sufficiently compensates the companies so that they can open again in the future.«
What Habeck said is therefore correct.
»One could only criticize that he didn't talk about the state measures that apply in such cases.
But given the current uncertainty, it is wise not to do so,” wrote Fratzscher.
In the CDU, the malice is great
The opposition, on the other hand, is working on Habeck.
At the beginning of the last general debate in the Bundestag, CDU party leader Friedrich Merz sneered that it was nice to "watch the Economics Minister think again and again".
Habeck could formulate pleasantly.
»But with all due respect: Yesterday on German television we could see how helpless you are.
One can only hope that the majority of German entrepreneurs slept yesterday," said Merz.
CDU General Secretary Mario Czaja speculated about Habeck's future crooked statements.
»Next chapter: This is not a blackout.
We're just out of power," Czaja wrote on Twitter.
jok/dpa