analysis
Bridge electricity prices, debt brakes, migration – Economics Minister and Vice Chancellor Habeck repeatedly encounter resistance – at the national and international level. And the green offspring also signals resistance.
It was just three words – an inconspicuous, short sentence that Robert Habeck formulated shortly before the end of his press conference on Tuesday of this week: “Don’t stop thinking.” A request that is made quickly, but can only be fulfilled over a long distance.
Constant questioning as Commitment
The Federal Minister of Economics and Green Vice-Chancellor has made the principle of constant questioning a voluntary commitment – but he also wants this freedom of thought from his counterpart. To constantly relativize goals and beliefs, to constantly examine one’s own positions as well as specific legislative projects to see whether they still fit into the times – that is Robert Habeck’s political principle.
Don’t stop thinking: This week in particular you could see a Federal Minister of Economics and Vice Chancellor who repeatedly reaches his limits. Who has to come to terms with the fact that not everything that he himself considers sensible and justified is also capable of gaining a majority – and that he encounters political interlocutors whose view of the world situation deviates drastically from his own.
Habeck promises Reducing bureaucracy – but what will come of it?
Tuesday afternoon in the Federal Ministry of Economics: The landlord Habeck explains his industrial strategy for the coming years. The minister has put together an almost 60-page paper that lists the challenges that Germany is facing as an industrial location: high energy prices, fragile supply chains, endless approval processes and, last but not least, a rampant shortage of skilled workers, which will only get worse as the baby boomer generation retires.
Countermeasures are urgently needed. Habeck promises in front of cameras and microphones to reduce bureaucracy – his ministry is currently reviewing all reporting requirements for companies. Almost cautiously, Habeck adds that he is now assuming that the other federal ministries are also working on similar projects. Because the Minister of Economic Affairs knows that this will not be enough.
Practically every company in Germany complains about suffocating bureaucracy, from the organic farmer on her farm in Allerland to the CEO of the VW Group. As often as politicians have promised to really slim down the state, the opposite has usually happened.
Insist on Electricity subsidy – Resistance from SPD and FDP
Then the next topic: the high electricity prices in Germany, from which large consumers in particular suffer. Glass manufacturers, the cement industry, steelworks, the chemical industry. “We have to keep these companies in Germany,” appeals Habeck and calls – once again – for a bridge electricity price, i.e. state-subsidized energy for large industrial customers.
Of course, Robert Habeck took into account that the Chancellor thinks very little of this demand and that Finance Minister Christian Lindner rejects electricity subsidies both because of the difficult costs to calculate and because of a possible distortion of competition. So nothing can be done as long as the traffic lights are in control.
But that doesn’t make the Federal Minister of Economics drop the demand. “I have many allies,” he says defiantly in front of the press – and estimates the chances of realizing the bridge electricity price at “50:50”. You can’t tell from his slight smile whether he thinks this is an optimistic or a pessimistic forecast.
Reform of the debt brake – without the FDP
The Habeck principle becomes even clearer when it comes to the topic of “debt brake”. The traffic light government does not want to change the constitutionally enshrined limit on federal borrowing, as stated in the coalition agreement. Habeck says in advance that he naturally wants to and will stick to this agreement.
But then he argues that the debt limit comes from a time that has nothing to do with today. Habeck argues that the challenges of the mid-2020s – the geopolitical shifts, energy crises, the transformation of the industry from fossil to renewable energies – cannot be met with yesterday’s tools.
He wants his demand to reform the federal government’s financial system to be seen as a way of saying thank you for the next legislative period. “He probably assumes that the FDP will then no longer be part of the government,” observers commented on the Vice Chancellor’s unusual plea after the press conference.
Visit to Turkey overshadowed by the Middle East war
Change of location: The next day Habeck flies to Ankara for political talks. The visit to Turkey has been planned for a long time; Habeck’s discussions with his Turkish ministerial colleagues were actually supposed to revolve around trade barriers and prospects for energy supply – routine things.
But Habeck’s visit to Turkey is overshadowed by the war in the Middle East. Turkey has long been considered an ally of Hamas’ political wing. Shortly before Habeck’s arrival, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan publicly described Hamas as a “liberation organization.”
Of course, Habeck has to address the issue at his meetings – and, on behalf of the federal government, he would at least like to ensure that Turkey uses its Hamas contacts to work towards the freeing of the hostages in the Gaza Strip.
Turkey is on the side of the Palestinians
But the Vice Chancellor is apparently encountering a Turkish position that is difficult for him to tolerate. His conversation with the Turkish Deputy President, Cevdet Yilmaz, lasted 40 minutes, twice as long as planned, and when Habeck appeared in front of the press a little later, it was clear that it was not an easy conversation.
His opposing views were underlined, he says diplomatically – and observers read from this: This conversation will not have been very friendly. Turkey sees itself as the leading power of the Islamic world and is clearly on the side of the Palestinians. Habeck finds no understanding in Ankara for Germany’s position, which views Hamas as a terrorist organization and grants Israel the right to defend itself.
When he laid a wreath that same afternoon at the gigantic mausoleum for the country’s founder Kemal Atatürk – a must for foreign guests in Ankara – Habeck’s deep disappointment was palpable. He walks rather slowly after the guards on the parade ground, all tension seems to have disappeared from the minister’s body. Robert Habeck, who recently described pacifism as a “distant dream,” has rarely found a military ritual so foreign.
No restrictions on migration through Turkey in sight
A political sense of success would be all the better: But the Vice Chancellor is not only met with rejection in Turkey when it comes to the issue of Israel, there is also little movement when it comes to limiting migration. Turkey is considered a key country for this. Afghanistan or Syria, Iran or Iraq – anyone who sets off from here to ultimately apply for asylum in Germany does not come via the Mediterranean and the Italian island of Lampedusa, but through Turkey.
The EU wants to renew the refugee agreement with Turkey, the country should prevent migrants from continuing their journey. Turkey has little interest in this at first because it already has millions of refugees in the country. The EU must therefore provide something in return – and money alone will not be enough.
Facilitation for Turks when issuing visas could be helpful. This is what not only millions of Turks want, but also German companies with locations and employees in Turkey. They have great difficulty allowing their staff to travel to Germany, for example for training or a trade fair.
Of course, the foreign and interior ministers are primarily involved in this issue, but the economics minister and vice chancellor also throw their weight into the balance. But Habeck cannot announce any concrete progress in Ankara on the issue of limiting migration, only this much: his interlocutors are ready to work towards ensuring that “Turkey becomes less important as a refugee corridor country.”
Green party conference with a lot Potential for disputes
Limiting migration in your own country – this is no longer taboo for the Green Vice Chancellor. On the contrary: Habeck recently agreed on stricter deportation rules with Chancellor Scholz and Finance Minister Lindner – remarkably quietly by traffic light standards.
But in a month at the latest, things could get louder again when it comes to the topic of migration, asylum and deportations: namely at the Green Party conference in Karlsruhe. It will last four whole days – plenty of time for arguments. There are Green members who are in the party not least because of the way it deals with refugees – critics of “Fortress Europe” and representatives of “Refugees Welcome”.
The new leaders of the Green Youth, Svenja Appuhn and Katharina Stolla, have already set the tone: They told “Spiegel” that the traffic lights need a 180-degree turn because “we are experiencing (…) a systematic disenfranchisement of refugees”. Robert Habeck will have a hard time getting this part of the Greens to at least think about their own position.
Perhaps the Green rule that federal ministers are not allowed to be party leaders at the same time has never been as valuable for Habeck as it is today: He has to represent the refugee policy of the traffic light coalition at the party conference – but he does not have to face an election as well.