The State Secretary for the Energy Transition Patrick Graichen (left) and his Minister of Economic Affairs Robert Habeck (both Greens)
From KlimaNachrichten Redakteur
You almost can’t help but think of Monty Python’s famous sketch with John Cleese as the main actor when you look at the events in the German Ministry of Economic Affairs. Instead of silly gaits in the United Kingdom, this is about crazy behavior in the German Ministry of Economic Affairs. Almost every day, new absurd facts pop up from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
As is well known, State Secretary Graichen wanted to appoint his trusted witness Schäfer to the position of head of the German Energy Agency dena. Graichen emphasized that his best man was the best applicant. Of course, this is a feast for the press and they found out that Schäfer has an apprenticeship as a copywriter, after which he was a Green MP in the Berlin House of Representatives and moved to Nabu and finally to Agora Energiewende. He has no scientific training, nor has he ever managed a company or agency with 500 employees. If this was already the best candidate, as Graichen emphasized, then it would be better not to imagine the qualifications of the other applicants. Die Welt has taken a closer look at the shepherd, who has since been taken out of the race, in a paid article.
“It is questionable whether Dena would have retained its “critical-constructive” role under the leadership of Michael Schäfer, the former head of environmental policy at the nature conservation association Nabu: Schäfer has so far hardly made a name for himself with energy policy expertise. On Twitter, Schäfer had supported the citizens’ initiative to make Berlin climate-neutral as early as 2030, a goal that scientists and even the Green Party’s top candidate Bettina Jarasch had considered unrealistic.”
The article concludes that Graichen apparently wanted to create facts and install a dena boss who was devoted to him and, above all, uncritical. We recall the great Peter Ustinov:
“Everyone makes mistakes. The trick is to do it when no one is watching.”
Not only did someone watch Graichen, but another state secretary in the Ministry of Economics is now making a name for himself. If you like, these are self-fulfilling prophecies from Habeck’s state secretary Philipp. Sitting in regulation exactly where you invest privately sounds great, but it has little to do with compliance. Setting up subsidy programmes that have a chance that they will affect some investments is already a strong piece. The Focus:
“After the felt allegations against his state secretary Patrick Graichen, Robert Habeck’s second state secretary Udo Philipp is now also putting the Minister of Economics in need of explanation because of conflicts of interest. Philipp is responsible for digital policy and the German startup scene, is responsible, among other things, for the German government’s startup strategy and billion-dollar funding programs, but is also active as a business angel for startups, according to research by Business Insider. Philipp supports companies through silent participations, loans and open participations, as he admits on request, according to the report. He is silent about which companies are involved. In addition, Philipp has money in a number of funds. Individual funds that can be assigned to the State Secretary are in industries of the future. This includes electromobility, for which Philipp is responsible in the ministry.”
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