Administration
Habeck’s personnel policy causes irritation among the opposition
In the criticism: Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck. photo
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
Important employees of Minister of Economics Habeck have close family ties to the Öko-Institut and the BUND. This triggers loud criticism. Were all the rules followed?
Family ties between key employees of Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) are causing irritation among the opposition. During a debate in the Bundestag, representatives of the traffic light groups emphasized that no rules had been violated. When asked, the Ministry of Economic Affairs stated that precautions had been taken to prevent conflicts of interest.
The CDU MP Tilman Kuban spoke of “mafia tendencies”, Stephan Brandner from the AfD, at whose instigation the Bundestag in Berlin discussed the topic in a current hour, spoke of “green clan structures”. Left-wing MP Klaus Ernst complained: “Obviously, the Greens and those around them today see themselves as a big family that needs to be taken care of, that you want to influence and that you want to keep away from external influences.”
“It’s not without it. There’s no doubt about it.”
Two high-ranking employees of Habeck have family ties to the Öko-Institut, an ecologically oriented research institution. State Secretary Patrick 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 is in turn married to Parliamentary State Secretary Michael Kellner (Greens).
“That’s not without problems. There’s no doubt about that,” Hümpfer noted. “But it’s not forbidden either.” Like other traffic light MPs, he admitted that the matter had a “taste”, but accused the AfD of exaggerating the matter: “You make an elephant out of a mosquito. That’s pure populism.”
According to the ministry, Patrick Graichen and Kellner’s family connections were “addressed and disclosed accordingly” before they took up their duties in December 2021. The daily newspaper “taz” reported on it back then, and recently there have been other media reports.
Greens speak of politically motivated attacks
Within the structure of the ministry, the conditions had been created “that conflicts of interest do not arise,” the economics ministry said on request. This applies in particular to the awarding of contracts or studies, the “organizational avoidance of possible conflicts of interest” has already been tested in previous governments. For example, Patrick Graichen will not be involved in procurement procedures to which the BUND, the Öko-Institut or the think tank Agora Energiewende, which Graichen managed until he moved to the ministry, could apply. This also applies to “concrete individual steps” for the preparation and initiation of such procedures, to which the three organizations could apply. As a parliamentary state secretary, Kellner has “no decision-making powers”.
In the past two years, the Öko-Institut has received orders worth millions from the ministry, said Hümpfer. However, neither Verena Graichen nor her brother have management positions there, and the institute has been preparing reports and studies for various governments for some time. The National Hydrogen Council, of which Verena Graichen is also a member, has already been convened by CDU Economics Minister Peter Altmaier. “So that’s not really a scandal either.”
Till Steffen from the Greens spoke of politically motivated attacks. The FDP MP Reinhard Houben accused the AfD of wanting to drive a wedge between politics and people, but also stated that every share of favoritism and nepotism had to be transparently eliminated.