German Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck (right) with State Secretary for Energy Patrick Graichen at a meeting on May 10. MICHELE TANTUSSI (REUTERS)
An alleged case of nepotism among senior officials of the German Green Party has claimed its first victim on Wednesday with the dismissal of Patrick Graichen, number two of the Minister of Economy and Climate, Robert Habeck. Graichen, deputy minister of energy and the minister's right-hand man, is the ideologue of the coalition government's energy policies, including the highly controversial decision to ban the installation of new gas and diesel boilers from next year. Graichen's departure is a blow to the reputation of the Greens, already badly touched in the polls after proposing pro-climate measures criticized by the opposition.
Graichen – and by extension also Habeck – had been in the eye of the storm for two weeks after it was known that he facilitated the hiring of a friend of his, and best man at his wedding, as director of the German Energy Agency. He was one of three committee members who appointed Michael Schäfer, a former Green MP and well-known energy adviser, to the post. He did not declare a conflict of interest at the time; that is, he did not officially communicate the relationship of friendship that united them. Initially, Habeck came to his defense. He said the hiring had been a mistake but that he had full confidence in their professionalism and highlighted their role in rapidly disconnecting Germany from its fatal dependence on Russian energy imports.
The German Minister of Economy and Climate, Robert Habeck, this Wednesday during the press conference in which he announced the dismissal of Patrick Graichen.CLEMENS BILAN (EFE)
However, pressure was mounting both from the opposition and within the coalition itself – made up of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats, the Greens and the liberals of the FDP – and Habeck was forced to take action. The first was to open an internal investigation that has revealed other opaque family ties. Habeck himself announced the dismissal of his right-hand man at a press conference in Berlin. "People make mistakes; This has been one more mistake," said the minister, with a serious face. "Overall, Patrick Graichen has become too vulnerable to attack to be able to exercise his office effectively."
Habeck said Wednesday that Graichen violated domestic rules regarding public funding of a national research project in which his sister was participating. The former Secretary of State for Energy participated in the approval process of the delivery of 600,000 euros to the environmental organization Öko-Institut. Both his sister Verena and his brother Jakob work there. Verena is also married to another secretary of state in the same ministry, Michael Kellner. This kinship relationship was known when the coalition government was formed, in December 2021, but it has been brought up to emphasize the network of family relationships that have woven the high green positions in the German Government.
At a press conference, Habeck has acknowledged how much it has cost him to make the decision to remove his close collaborator and has announced that he will look for a replacement as soon as possible. After his intervention, the Christian Democrats of the CDU have demanded that the bill to decarbonize German heating, promoted by Graichen, be scrapped.
Both Habeck and Graichen belong to the Greens, who have seen their popularity plummet in recent weeks due to the distrust of Germans over the cost of their climate policies and decisions such as the definitive closure of nuclear power plants. The plan to prevent the installation of new fossil fuel boilers has been widely criticized for its high cost and the short notice with which it has been proposed. The scandal of family relations in Habeck's ministry is particularly embarrassing for the Greens, who boast of transparency and have repeatedly blamed other parties for their poor handling of conflicts of interest.
In addition to the polls, which leave the ecologists at around 15% of voting intention compared to 23% last year, the results of the last regional elections, in Bremen, show the bump that the party is going through. In the Hanseatic city, where they had traditionally obtained good figures, support for their candidates fell by a third compared to the previous elections, to 12%.
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