Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck described the re-advertising of the chief post of the German Energy Agency (Dena) as correcting a mistake. “The substance of the error could still be corrected, namely a new tender,” said the Green politician on Saturday in Deutschlandfunk’s “Interview of the Week”.

In the political sphere, it is not often that mistakes are proactively acknowledged. “But that’s what I want, that’s what I demand of my people and also of myself.” If the error can be corrected, it must be done.

Habeck’s State Secretary Graichen has come under pressure because he was involved in the selection of Dena’s new managing director, Michael Schäfer, even though he is his best man. On Friday, the Dena supervisory board decided to re-advertise the chief post of the federal company.

In the “Welt am Sonntag” Habeck praised Graichen’s energy. “Patrick is a robust politician and with his consistent manner he has taken care of averting an economic crisis and gas shortages, filling gas storage facilities, building LNG terminals, connecting coal-fired power plants and extending nuclear power plants,” he said.