Ricarda Lang on the ARD program "Bericht aus Berlin". © Screenshot from ARD's "Report from Berlin"
After accusations against the Greens and Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck have been made in recent weeks, party leader Ricarda Lang is now defending Habeck - and attacking Markus Söder.
Berlin - For several weeks, nepotism has been discussed in the Federal Ministry of Economics. Now Green Party leader Ricarda Lang sharply rejects accusations by Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder against her party in connection with personnel squabbles in the Ministry of Economic Affairs. A state secretary of Robert Habeck, Patrick Graichen, is massively criticized because he was involved in the selection of the new managing director of the German Energy Agency, Michael Schäfer, although he is his best man.
Mistakes had been made and they had been clearly admitted, said Lang on Sunday evening in the ARD program "Report from Berlin". "But if this now comes loudest from the CSU and Markus Söder, among others, who has made nepotism a kind of working model with the Amigo affair, who has made nepotism a kind of working model with the mask affair, then you have to be honest and say that the accusation of double standards is more of a projection."
Nepotism allegations against Habeck: Söder tackles the Greens
Söder criticized the personnel policy of the Ministry of Economics as a whole. "The whole green clan is somehow occupied," he said, "brother, sister, uncle, aunt." And if you keep looking, you're sure to find some brother-in-law. "This is nothing more than green corruption," he said.
At the CSU party conference on Saturday, CSU leader Markus Söder had called on Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck to dismiss his state secretary Patrick Graichen. Otherwise, the Graichen affair would be a Habeck affair.
Nepotism allegations against Habeck: Lang defends himself against allegations
Lang, for her part, went on the offensive and referred, among other things, to the mask affair in which members of the Bundestag and state parliaments from the CDU and CSU were involved. During the Corona pandemic, they received a lot of money for the procurement of protective masks. As a result, three politicians from the Union resigned from their parties. The then Federal Minister of Health, Jens Spahn, continues to be active. With the so-called Amigo affair, the corruption scandal involving Bavarian Prime Minister Max Streibl and other CSU politicians, which led to Streibl's resignation in 1993, Lang directly attacked Söder's party.
In addition to some self-criticism with regard to the appointment of the managing director of the German Energy Agency, Lang also called for "leaving the church in the village." In her view, in parts "the most absurd connections are opened". The fact that even Olaf Scholz had admonished his vice-chancellor despite a state visit to Africa is a "matter of course" for the Green Party leader. The fact that "the rules" must be adhered to is just as clear for Lang and for the entire coalition. (dpa/lp)