analysis
Family ties among leading employees of Economics Minister Habeck have been criticized. A personnel decision is now to be reviewed. But it’s about much more.
Probably only those familiar with energy policy can explain right away what the tasks of the German Energy Agency (dena) – the “Competence Center for Applied Energy Transition and Climate Protection”, as dena describes itself. That means: You want to contribute to the goal of climate neutrality through advice and projects.
But now the fuss surrounding the future co-head of the downstream federal agency is attracting unexpected attention. The post is to be given to former Berlin Greens politician Michael Schäfer. Actually.
The best man
Because a few days ago, Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Patrick Graichen informed his minister that Schäfer was his best man. The problem: Graichen was involved in the process that led to the personnel decision. According to the ministry, everything is formally correct. But the process is now to be restarted in order to eliminate any suspicion of unauthorized influence, said a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
The topic comes at the wrong time for Economics and Climate Minister Robert Habeck. Because in the past few days, the family ties among leading employees of his ministry have made headlines. A column in “Spiegel” even asked whether it was “shameless nepotism, which in any other case would lead to a storm of indignation.”
The siblings
The main reason is that Habeck’s siblings, State Secretary Graichen, work for the Öko-Institut. This is an institute that was founded in the context of the anti-nuclear scene to underpin the work of citizens’ initiatives with scientific expertise. For years, however, the Öko-Institut has also received orders from politicians, including the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
The State Secretary’s brother, Jakob Graichen, is a co-author of a study on “Energy and climate protection projections (2035/2050)”. Sister Verena, on the other hand, not only works at the Öko-Institut, but is also married to Parliamentary State Secretary Michael Kellner – so the two State Secretaries are related by marriage.
politics as family project?
The fact that these family ties exist is not new, however. As early as the end of 2021, the Berlin “tageszeitung” (taz) spoke in a kind of commentary of the “energy transition as a family project”: “If family celebrations get boring, the Graichen/Kellner clan can still talk about the reform of the market stability reserve in emissions trading or the equalization mechanism ordinance in the EEG,” it was said smugly at the time.
The Ministry of Economics emphasizes that the fact of the family relationships was made public from the beginning. Special procedural rules have also been created so that the suspicion of preferential treatment cannot arise when the ministry awards contracts.
“A Taste”
But that’s exactly what politicians in the opposition fear. At a current hour requested by the AfD on Wednesday in the Bundestag, the CDU MP Tilman Kuban, for example, spoke of “mafia-like structures”. AfD politician Stephan Brandner drew a comparison to “clan crime”. And Klaus Ernst from the Left Party said ironically: “Obviously the Greens and those around them see themselves today as a big family that needs to be looked after and that you want to influence.”
What was interesting about the debate was that, with the exception of the Greens, representatives of the traffic light coalition also expressed cautious criticism of Habeck. “Every appearance of favoritism and nepotism” must be cleared up transparently, warned Reinhard Houben of the FDP, for example. And the SPD deputy Markus Hümpfer found that the matter had “a taste”.
Why the fuss now?
The question arises as to why the topic is causing a debate right now – even before the fuss about dena’s personnel. One reason might be the growing dissatisfaction within the Ministry of Economics and Climate. It was only recently announced that Habeck has filled nine department heads since taking office without the usual advertisement. This emerges from the ministry’s response to a written request from the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. This is justified with the “special relationship of trust with the minister”. In his ministry, however, this is seen by some as a declaration of no confidence in the previous employees.
At the end of 2021, Habeck was initially received quite euphorically in the venerable ministry complex on Invalidenstraße. Habeck conveyed new beginnings and dynamism. But this euphoria has evaporated in parts of the workforce. As can be heard from confidential discussions, some have the feeling that their expertise is no longer in demand. State secretaries Graichen and Sven Giegold in particular have the reputation of having little interest in critical inquiries from the ministry.
espionage accusation caused unrest
Apparently, not only do different political views collide – which should come as no surprise given the change from a CDU minister to a Greens department head. Apparently, there are also different approaches: Graichen and Giegold worked for non-governmental organizations for a long time: Graichen at the “Agora Energiewende” founded by former Green State Secretary Rainer Baake and Giegold at the globalization-critical network “Attac”.
An incident from last September also continues to cause unrest: the ministry had reported to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution that two employees were suspected of espionage. They were noticed with Russia-friendly positions, it said. This accusation caused unrest in the ministry. The “Handelsblatt” then reported on internal minutes of a crisis meeting of ministry officials. According to the newspaper, the minutes paint “a picture of uncertainty, doubts about the integrity of the minister and damage to cooperation with top management”.
So it could well be that there is more behind the current debate than the question of family ties. From the point of view of some observers, the criticism is likely to be indirectly directed at the minister’s personnel management. And so on the minister himself.