As of: February 5, 2024, 1:23 p.m
By: Kathrin Reikowski
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Split
“The traffic lights are overwhelming Germany, Mr. Habeck?” Carmen Miosga asked Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) on Sunday evening on ARD.
Berlin - Carmen Miosga opens the door by describing a scene: If the heating is broken, the plumber can only come in three weeks, anyone who is sick cannot get antibiotics in the pharmacies and often cannot reach the doctor.
“Are you used to being to blame for everything?” is the first question to Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens), which sets the tone for the evening.
“I don’t think it can be that bad,” replied Habeck, “because none of the things you mentioned were political decisions.
Neither that the heating is broken nor that there is a lack of antibiotic substances.
And the strike is that of the unions.
Many have responsibility.” A little later, Habeck says: “But the mood in Germany is minor, yes.
Maybe I can bring in a bit of major today, or we can do it together.”
Habeck at Miosga: Are the traffic lights overwhelming Germany?
Habeck will address these individual questions and problems at Miosga:
For which mistakes by the federal government does Habeck take responsibility?
With the word “special fund” for the economy, did Habeck promise something that could not be financed without the knowledge of Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP)?
Habeck says that the debates in the Federal Council have made it clear that the eight billion planned for the economy cannot be financed.
The word “special fund” should be understood as an invitation to act across party lines.
You can read the latest on the debate about the special fund between Lindner and Habeck here.
How did he experience the farmers' protests at the Baltic Sea ferry?
“I thought there was a chance to talk, but the security situation didn't allow that.
It was probably different than usual.” So far, despite differences of opinion, it has always been possible to exchange arguments.
“That was no longer possible.
Unfortunately."
Electricity price and green transformation:
Habeck wants to see the fall in electricity prices as a success, they are back to the price for 2021. The switch to green electricity is also an investment in Germany as a business location.
“Is it correct to think that we should now immediately pass on the costs of network expansion to consumers?
“That’s not necessarily the right answer,” says Habeck.
“The problem is, everything has to happen in six or eight years.” Here again the question is how to deal with the costs.
Do subsidies and investments only benefit large companies, not medium-sized businesses?
The EEG levy would benefit medium-sized businesses and would also selectively benefit smaller companies working on decarbonization and industries in which the government has a strategic interest, such as batteries, chips and semiconductors.
“The world is not fair at the moment, nor does it play according to the conditions of the ideal market economy.
The other major economic nations, China and the USA in particular, are spending billions to strategically retain these companies.
In comparison, we are really small.”
Will climate money still come?
“That first depends on whether it can happen.” The technical payout mechanisms have not yet been clarified.
“I think it’s right to introduce climate money in the next legislative period, and if it happens in this one, that’s a good thing too.
“It’s not as easy as “Do it!” says Habeck.
Robert Habeck seems touched during the TV talk with Miosga
Habeck does not seem as rousing or motivating in Miosga as he did in his video statement for more democracy and less anti-Semitism in Germany, when he was already said to have better qualities as chancellor than Olaf Scholz (SPD).
Perhaps the impression that he is reserved comes about because Habeck listens.
He lets his conversation partners finish speaking and only speaks when it is addressed to him.
And: He, again in a statesmanlike manner, always focuses the tone on togetherness, on the urgency of working together as democratic parties, across government and opposition.
Habeck shows his worries: “I ask myself, am I actually doing enough...?”
At the end, Habeck himself comes back to the example of the missing antibiotics and says, self-critically and openly: “I ask myself, am I actually doing enough as economics minister?” He is currently talking to a company that wants to produce antibiotics in Europe otherwise would not be produced here.
But the entrepreneurs are not Samaritans, they want to make money.
“And now my question is, I have no money... But I know the world is the way it is.
Can we always rely on getting the [antibiotic]?
That's what drives me.
And I ask myself, am I actually doing enough as economics minister in this federal government to produce the critical goods here in Europe?”
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Habeck seems touched at times, almost dejected, but still tries to find solutions and a positive view.
It sounds like this in one of his statements: “The federal government is trying to solve the problems little by little.
And if there is any reason for optimism, it is the distance we have traveled.
And that is not us, the federal government, but us, Germany.
I don't want to sugarcoat the situation at all.
But what the country has achieved in the last two years, from Covid19, to averting the energy crisis and bringing down prices, and ultimately also the ability to make and secure broad democratic decisions, to the demonstrations we are experiencing now , for the Basic Law.
It’s not nothing, it’s a gigantic achievement and we should believe in it.” (kat)