The witness affair continues to occupy the Greens. Party leader Ricarda Lang defended Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck's decision to dismiss State Secretary Patrick Graichen, but is being criticized by Markus Lanz on ZDF.
Filderstadt/Hamburg - The Greens are currently under great pressure. And the boss, Ricarda Lang, tries to get the chestnuts out of the fire almost every day. For the party, but above all for Economics and Climate Minister Robert Habeck (Greens). The reason is the affair of its former state secretary Patrick Graichen.
Background: Graichen wanted to make Michael Schäfer the new managing director of the German Energy Agency (Dena). A difficult choice, because Schäfer was Graichen's best man. CSU leader Markus Söder, among others, then spoke of nepotism and called for Graichen's dismissal. But Habeck hesitated, so that the topic boiled up more and more. On Wednesday (17 May) he finally pulled the ripcord and Habeck dismissed Graichen with the words: "It was one mistake too many."
Markus Lanz (right) asks Green Party leader Ricarda Lang tough questions. © IMAGO / Metodi Popow/Georg Wendt/dpa/Montage
In the Graichen case, Ricarda Lang understands the question: "Why not earlier?"
Green Party leader Lang tried to justify this late decision, including in the ZDF round on "Markus Lanz". The presenter, who has long been known for not letting politicians get away with empty phrases, also followed up with Lang several times and asked her: "How could all this derail so much?"
Meanwhile, Lang defended the decision-making process: "I can understand that many citizens think: 'Why not earlier?' But I think it's right not to make an arbitrary and hasty decision." Rather, Lang even praised Habeck's decision, which she considered correct and "consistent" in the "overall view".
Markus Lanz replies to Ricarda Lang: "That was all, but it wasn't consistent and fast"
At the word "consistent" ZDF presenter Lanz became suspicious. He said, "That was all, but it wasn't consistent and fast." Lang then spoke of a "culture of mistakes" and that it was the claim in politics to make as few mistakes as possible. "But, of course, it won't always work. More people will make mistakes." There was also talk of a "second chance" that had to be given. But in connection with the Graichen affair, Habeck's ministry had just found that too many mistakes had been made. Among other things, also in terms of "trust" and "compliance", as Lang clarified.
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The journalist Kerstin Münstermann, who was also a guest of Lanz, interjected at this point that she finds it interesting that the Greens protect a state secretary, but not the actual "treasure" in the Ministry of Economics, namely Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck. "Because in the end it sticks to Habeck and that can be neither in the interest of Mr. Graichen, who is apparently close to him, nor in the interest of Mr. Habeck and the Green Party," said Münstermann. Similarly, CSU man Söder had recently noted that the affair around Graichen could become a Habeck affair.
