federal government
Ministry examines possible bias in post selection
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck. photo
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
A best man from Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Patrick Graichen as the new head of the German Energy Agency: This causes irritation. Federal Minister of Economics Habeck asks for an internal review.
Against the background of a debate about family ties between important employees of Minister Robert Habeck (Greens), the Ministry of Economic Affairs wants to review the filling of a post.
The ministry told the German Press Agency that the procedure for replacing the chair of the management board of the German Energy Agency (dena) should be reviewed and, if necessary, re-established.
At the beginning of the week, State Secretary for Economic Affairs Patrick Graichen informed Habeck that the new head of dena, Michael Schäfer, was his best man. “Therefore, the appearance of a possible bias cannot be completely ruled out,” said the ministry. The minister then asked for an internal review at the beginning of the week. In order to remedy the error, State Secretary for Economic Affairs Stefan Wenzel, as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Energy Agency, asked the Supervisory Board to review the procedure and, if necessary, set it up again.
irritation in the opposition
“There were no legal errors in the procedure; the resolutions of the Energy Agency’s supervisory board are effective. But an error in a preliminary selection process could have given rise to the appearance of a possible bias.” This was the result of the internal audit initiated at Habeck’s request.
Family ties between important employees of Habeck had caused irritation among the opposition. During a debate in the Bundestag on Wednesday, representatives of the traffic light groups emphasized that no rules had been violated.
Two high-ranking employees of Habeck have family ties to the Öko-Institut, an ecologically oriented research institution. State Secretary 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).