Economy Minister Habeck is not thinking of sacking his Secretary of State Graichen. He also tried to explain this decision at a committee hearing. But this is not enough for the opposition.
Federal Economy Minister Robert Habeck does not want to sack his Secretary of State Patrick Graichen because of his misconduct in filling a top post. “I have decided that Patrick Graichen does not need to go because of this mistake,” the green politician said after being questioned at a joint meeting of the economy, climate protection and energy committees.
“And the debate in the committee gives me, I think, some hope that differentiation will also make this decision more understandable,” added Habeck. At the same time, the Greens politician said that disciplinary proceedings against civil servants would be examined against Graichen.
Hearing behind closed doors
Previously, Habeck, along with Graichen, had answered questions from committee members behind closed doors – a public poll failed to win a majority. The background is the selection of a new managing director for the German Federal Energy Agency (dena), in which Graichen was involved – although in the end the choice fell on his godfather Michael Schäfer. Both Graichen and Habeck now speak of an error. The procedure for selecting personnel must be implemented again.
Graichen Declaration published
Later, the Ministry of Economy made public what Graichen himself said in his opening statement to the committee. Consequently, Graichen apologized to the committee members again for his misconduct. He stated that he had not given Schäfer or other candidates any information or provided any advantages. “Today it is clear to me that I should have withdrawn from the selection committee immediately because of Michael Schäfer’s candidacy.”
He also nominated other people to the selection committee staffing agency, some of whom also applied. “Of the eleven candidates that the recruitment agency finally selected and suggested to the selection committee, nine were already familiar to them from previous professional experience – the result of working professionally in the climate and energy landscape for over 20 years.” , Graichen explained accordingly. “For me, it was a gradation in terms of which of the candidates I knew and how well.”
Klöckner: “There are still many unanswered questions”
Even after the questioning of Graichen and Habeck, the opposition wants to investigate further. “Many questions remain unanswered,” said Julia Klöckner, an economics expert at the CDU. “The traffic light factions lost a great opportunity today to provide clarification and transparency.” They would also have voted against a public session. That’s why we want another survey. Habeck said he regretted the meeting was not public.
CDU general secretary Mario Czaja said at this time about the matter in the Bundestag that “the green clique of the Habeck family” does not take people’s concerns seriously. With reference to the looming costs of the planned heating law, Czaja complained: “This is not climate protection, it is social indifference.”
The leader of the left-wing faction, Dietmar Bartsch, demanded Graichen’s speedy resignation. “If Robert Habeck fails to separate from Graichen, the Secretary of State will no longer be available, but the Minister himself.”
Habeck said after the committee meeting that all the questions were answered and that you might have to add more here and there. In the past, however, the error in filling out the dena was confused with other themes: “So that there was a web of insinuations, untruths and insinuations”.
dena position to be announced again
The position of managing director of dena will be announced again in the coming days. The announcement was made by the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Parliamentary State Secretary for Economic Affairs Stefan Wenzel (Greens), on Tuesday evening in Berlin. This will also be publicly announced in a few days and everyone will be able to reapply. According to Wenzel, the selection commission was set up more broadly, in terms of number of people, but also in terms of anchoring in the ministries.
He hopes a decision will be taken “very soon” and that it will be known before the summer break who will run the dena along with managing director Kristina Haverkamp. Schäfer should have taken office on 15 June.