Habeck on a coastal tour: feel-good election campaign in the mudflats

Robert Habeck barefoot in the mudflats, Habeck on Sylt, on Föhr and in Klixbüll: The Greens co-boss is on a coastal tour – and Baerbock’s shadow is somehow always there.

Robert Habeck has rolled up his trouser legs and is walking barefoot through the mudflats off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein. The Westerheversand lighthouse on the Eiderstedt peninsula can be seen on the horizon, surrounded by blooming salt marshes.

Claudia Plaß
ARD capital studio

The man from the north, the nature boy – this is how Habeck wants to be seen, and here too he manages to draw this image in a publicly effective way. Habeck informs himself about the Wadden Sea National Park, the habitat is for seals, numerous birds and fish and millions of snails, mussels and crabs.

However, conservationists warn: It is threatened in many places, from oil production and fishing, but above all from rising sea levels. The Wadden Sea needs support, Habeck agrees. During his time as the responsible minister in Schleswig-Holstein, the conflicts between environmentalists and those who wanted to use the Wadden Sea were great, he recalls.

Habeck is on a coastal tour these days – almost a pre-election tour through his homeland, along the coast of Schleswig-Holstein. He is not only known here, in front of Westerhever, he knows the people, you talk to each other. Well-being atmosphere.

Habeck seems relaxed, in a good mood, relaxed. His appointments alternate between project or company visits and classic election campaign events, townhalls are what the Greens call it.

In Wyk auf Föhr he speaks to several hundred people, locals and tourists, in the background water sports enthusiasts cavort on the sea. In Husum, he answers questions about the future of e-mobility and how retirement provision should change.

Lots of beautiful pictures

Habeck wants to use the time now that the political competition is on vacation. The own chancellor candidate, Annalena Baerbock, too, by the way. These days he can count on a lot of attention, produce beautiful pictures – and hope to be able to steer the polls of the Greens up again.

At the start of his journey in Klixbüll in North Friesland, Habeck sits on a folding chair with oversized sunglasses, on his lap a small control panel with a joystick, as you know it for remote-controlled cars. He steers a kite, which hangs on a winch and generates electricity in the mountain air by moving it up and down. The operators have great expectations and are placing great hopes in a green government participation.

Even as energy minister in Schleswig-Holstein, Habeck had set the course for the project. He doesn’t believe that he might have to disappoint these expectations. “As you can see from the kite, it always moves in a sine curve. When it goes down, it goes up again.”

Habeck is not only in a good mood. He is also surprisingly optimistic in view of the rather disastrous weeks that have passed.

Somehow Baerbock is always there

Baerbock is not an issue here. And yet her shadow is somehow there. Because without the negative headlines of the recent past, Habeck would probably be receiving significantly less attention now. When the operators of the wind power plant wanted to keep him here just for fun, Habeck replied that it couldn’t be done. He still has plans, he has to get a few percentage points tonight.

Get percentage points – but how? Baerbock’s mistake – each seen in isolation is a trifle. But the accumulation scratches the brand essence of the Greens, their credibility. Habeck knows that. “A lot of mistakes were made by ourselves, a lot of trust is disappointed and hope disturbed.” He hope it hasn’t been destroyed. He now wants to do his part to restore people’s trust.

To do this, he wants to meet people, talk and explain – for two weeks. First along the west coast, then along the east coast of Schleswig-Holstein. He rummages through the typical holiday resorts where people from all over Germany come together and go on vacation.

Isn’t Habeck the better candidate?

Just like on Sylt. In front of several hundred people, the focus is on shrimp fishing and environmental protection. Baerbock is not an issue on stage. But their shadow also lies over the event here. Everyone here noticed the series of breakdowns by the first green candidate for chancellor. And if you ask, everyone has their opinion. Some don’t think it’s too bad, something like that just happens. Baerbock alone is not the green party.

And then there are those who are sure that Habeck would have been the better candidate because such mistakes would not have happened to him, because he simply has more experience.

Many, however, agree on one point: It must now be the matter. About content and questions about how climate protection can be achieved and social equilibrium designed. And the Greens still have to provide specific answers. Because until now they had to mainly talk about their mistakes.