Habeck under pressure: charismatic in defensive mode

He was long considered the great explainer of the traffic light coalition. Now the energy crisis and its consequences are scratching Robert Habeck’s image. Is the Vice Chancellor’s star on the wane?

Things aren’t going well for the traffic light coalition’s green vice-chancellor, really. While he was just being considered a high-flyer, the best politician explainer and actually even the better chancellor, Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck now seems to be losing ground.

The quarrels and improvements to the gas levy and the indistinct mumbling at “Maischberger” when it came to possible insolvencies of smaller companies as a result of the economic and energy crisis caused the minister to tumble – and then he delivered to the opposition and the FDP on Monday the perfect template with his decision to plan two of the three nuclear power plants still in operation only for emergency reserve operation from January.

So it’s no wonder that the leader of the opposition, Friedrich Merz, in the much-noticed general debate in the Bundestag on Wednesday, described the occupation of the Ministry of Economic Affairs with Habeck at the helm as “madness” and the FDP loudly called for a clearer and longer continued operation of the nuclear power plants, including the purchase of new fuel rods – and that as Habeck’s coalition partner, who is actually committed to a certain degree of loyalty. Habeck is currently facing opposition to his decisions even from his own coalition.

The harmonious appearance of Habeck and Lindner at the cabinet meeting in Meseberg seems almost forgotten only last week, in which the two tried at least to some extent to embody the togetherness of the initial phase. Apparently, the words of the Federal Chancellor there have had almost no effect, that one must “join one another” together as a coalition in these times of crisis.

Sure, there is immense pressure on the coalition, compared to which even the financial crisis of 2008, which Angela Merkel and Peer Steinbrück had to deal with, seems comparatively harmless. The ministers Christian Lindner (FDP) and Habeck who are now acting have become two key players over the “turn of the era”: solutions that cushion the crises must be worked out in their departments of finance, business, energy and climate protection; multiple crises unleashed by Putin’s war of aggression, be it in energy production, energy prices and inflation. But the two protagonists of a reform coalition have become noticeably more of a coexistence than a cooperation.

Manager of shortages instead of drivers of transformation?

Habeck is mutating more and more into the manager of shortages instead of being the radiant minister of the transformation towards climate-neutral Germany, as he probably imagined. This week in particular, you can almost watch the worry lines grow on his forehead. Is the task too much for him?

When he stepped up to the lectern in the Bundestag to defend his budget on Thursday, he appeared calm, albeit slightly annoyed: “Actually, we have better and more important things to do than talk about each other – reality demands our full concentration.” And then, at the age of 16, counterattacked Merz and his Union with a “preventive policy” on renewable energies. Now crisis policy paired with transformation policy is required.

His real message: The times are too serious for this small and thrashing about each other. After all, we are in an energy crisis, the tasks of which are far more complex and greater than the oil crisis of 1973. And once again this week, the old political philosopher Habeck shines through: “Perhaps we should also reconsider the role that the opposition and government sometimes play condition.”

Habeck simply no longer responds to the criticism of the gas levy, nuclear power plant runtime and inflation talk. Yesterday’s snow for him. His stance here is clear: crisis management policy at this speed – with sometimes poor starting data, as in the case of the gas market, sometimes required adjustments to be made in the event of unintended undesirable developments. And that’s what he did, topic closed. His ministry and his party leadership see it as something he has done with nuclear power – the power plants continue to run when there is a need.

With the impending bankruptcy of smaller companies, he probably had good reasons on Tuesdays at Sandra Maischbergers ARD talk show not to become clearer. According to information from tagesschau.de as not yet coordinated within the coalition. If Habeck had been more specific, Lindner would have had one more example to say: Once again, it wasn’t agreed.

Leading economists are helping him

Since he preferred to remain nebulous – with subsequent Twitter bashing. Especially since leading economists such as Marcel Fratzscher jumped to the side in terms of content. Two days later, Habeck officially announced the rescue program to avert bankruptcies in the coming fall and winter.

“Dare to have more Habeck” was a dictum in the first half of the year in the government district and beyond: for direct addressing, a lot of active explanation of the current political decisions and thereby making them comprehensible. He doesn’t seem to have the air for that at the moment.