After the announced separation from State Secretary Graichen, the Hessian Green politician Nimmermann takes over the post in the Federal Ministry of Economics. The Ministry confirmed corresponding media reports.
Philipp Nimmermann from the Hessian Ministry of Economic Affairs will be the new Secretary of State for Energy. This was confirmed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection in Berlin. Minister Robert Habeck praised Nimmermann as an experienced State Secretary with economic expertise and a lot of administrative experience, who will advance the energy transition, the heat transition and the transformation.
Nimmermann succeeds Patrick Graichen, who had to give up his post as a result of an affair involving personal ties and the awarding of contracts. The 57-year-old has been State Secretary in the Hessian Ministry of Economic Affairs since 2019 and was previously State Secretary for Finance in Schleswig-Holstein. Habeck, who was Deputy Prime Minister in Kiel at the time, also knows him from this time.
Previously employed at BHF Bank
Before entering politics, the doctor of economics held various positions at BHF Bank in Frankfurt am Main.
According to a report in the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” in Hesse, Nimmermann had recently taken care of various aid packages, such as corona aid for companies or the hardship fund in the energy price crisis. In the meantime, he had also been traded for a board position at the Bundesbank.
Graichen temporarily retired
Habeck put his State Secretary Graichen on temporary retirement on Wednesday. Graichen admitted at the end of April that he had helped his best man to a top position at the state-owned German Energy Agency.
In the course of further investigations, it was also about a climate protection project approved by Graichen. It had been requested by the Berlin state association of the environmental organization BUND – on whose board Graichen’s sister sits. Graichen’s close networking with the Öko-Institut and the Berlin think tank Agora Energiewende also caused criticism.