Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) has taken his criticized Secretary of State for Energy Patrick Graichen under his protection. “Without the consistent nature of Patrick Graichen, Germany would be in a serious economic crisis today,” Habeck told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung”.
“In no time at all, he pushed through the law for filling gas storage facilities and ensured the timely storage of gas, advanced the construction of LNG terminals for a secure gas supply, stabilized the gas supplier Uniper and brought old coal-fired power plants back to the grid.”
There is a new whirl around Graichen. According to the ministry, he informed Habeck at the beginning of the week that the new managing director of the federal German Energy Agency (dena), Michael Schäfer, was his best man. Graichen was a member of a selection committee to fill the management board. The procedure for filling the post is now to be reviewed and, if necessary, relaunched, as the ministry announced on Thursday. A possible bias cannot be completely ruled out.
FDP politician questions Graichen
The FDP economic politician Reinhard Houben is meanwhile suggesting that Habeck dismiss his criticized State Secretary Patrick Graichen. “Mr. Graichen is increasingly becoming a political burden for Economics Minister Habeck,” said the economic policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group in the “Handelsblatt”. The question arises as to “whether Mr. Graichen is still acceptable in his office”.
Houben explained that biases in the selection of personnel must not lead to discrediting of the federal government’s economic and energy policies. “Instead of continuing to pursue a salami tactic, everything must now be on the table.”
Family ties among important employees of Habeck had already caused a lot of criticism from the opposition. Graichen’s sister Verena Graichen works at the nature conservation organization BUND and, like another brother, at the Öko-Institut, as summarized by SPD MP Markus Hümpfer, among others. Verena Graichen, in turn, is married to the parliamentary Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Michael Kellner (Greens).
