Habeck would like to pass the Building Energy Act (GEG) before the parliamentary summer break.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin After Patrick Graichen was replaced as State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics, a debate broke out in the traffic light coalition about the timetable for the planned heating law.
“It is obvious that such a serious change at the top of the ministry will not speed up the deliberations on the Building Energy Act,” said the FDP Federal Vice Wolfgang Kubicki the Handelsblatt. “Probably the opposite is more likely.” Kubicki, who is also Vice President of the Bundestag, emphasized that “a number of questions remain open that need to be clarified before a reasonable and objective debate” on the heating law can take place.
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai considers an adoption before the summer break to be “out of the question,” as he told the “Bild” newspaper. His group still has around 100 questions for Economics Minister Robert Habeck. “As long as these are not answered, deliberations on the law cannot even begin.”
SPD and Greens rejected the request of the Liberals. “There is no connection between the content-related work of the Ministry of Economics and Mr. Graichen’s misconduct – nobody should now artificially produce this,” said the co-head of the SPD-Left, Bundestag member Sebastian Roloff the Handelsblatt.
SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert also sees no reason to postpone the heating law because of Graichen’s departure. Green parliamentary group leader Katharina Dröge also rejects the delay in the law brought into play by the FDP.
Economics Minister Robert Habeck announced the resignation of his State Secretary Patrick Graichen (both Greens) on Wednesday after he had not sufficiently separated private and professional matters in two cases. Before the parliamentary summer break that begins on July 7, Habeck is aiming for the Building Energy Act (GEG) to be passed, in which Graichen played a key role.
CSU SME Union calls for Habeck’s resignation
According to the draft adopted by the Federal Cabinet, from 2024 onwards every newly installed heating system should be operated with 65 percent renewable energy. This should apply to all owners under 80 years of age. Existing oil and gas heaters can continue to be operated, broken heaters can be repaired. The law is intended to herald the departure from gas and oil heating systems.
The FDP energy politician Michael Kruse, meanwhile, spoke of a “power vacuum” in the ministry’s top management with regard to the replacement of Graichen, which is why Habeck should “propose a new, realistic timetable for a version of the heating law that has been worked out on the basis of the coalition agreement”. Politicians from the CDU and CSU also called for the controversial legislative plans to be stopped.
The SPD politician Roloff thinks it is right that Graichen will lose his post according to the “latest information”. “Now the ministry must quickly return to calm waters and advance the energy transition.”
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“The resignation of State Secretary Graichen was overdue,” said Union Parliament Secretary Thorsten Frei of the “Rheinische Post”. “Minister Habeck is badly damaged by his clinging to Graichen,” said the CDU politician. The CSU SME Union also demanded Habeck’s resignation.
Graichen has to vacate his post as a result of further internal reviews, Habeck said. The background is therefore the planned funding of a project by the BUND regional association in Berlin, on whose board Graichen’s sister is. The Secretary of State is to be placed on temporary retirement. Graichen had previously been criticized for his involvement in the selection for the top post at the federal German Energy Agency (Dena).
So he had helped his best man Michael Schäfer to get the lucrative job without mentioning the personal relationship. The selection process for the Dena tip has now been rolled out again. According to Dena, Schäfer waived a severance payment, although his contract, which has now been terminated, was signed.
The Economics Committee of the Bundestag wants to deal with further open questions on the policy of the Federal Ministry of Economics next Wednesday. This emerges from the agenda, as reported by the dpa news agency. At its meeting in the morning, the committee should first decide whether to discuss the matter at a joint meeting with the Committee on Climate Protection and Energy and in a public meeting at noon.
The CDU/CSU parliamentary group had requested both. According to the agenda, the topic should be “Further processing of the appointment of the CEO of Dena as well as current reporting on possible compliance violations and on the personnel policy of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection”.
Another state secretary under criticism for possible conflicts of interest
The Economics Committee is also expecting a report from the Ministry on media reports on “possible conflicts of interest at the management level of the BMWK in industrial policy, foreign trade policy, digital and innovation policy and here in particular in start-up funding”.
State Secretary Udo Philipp is responsible for these areas. According to a Business Insider report, Philipp has invested private money in several start-ups, raising questions from the opposition given his position at the ministry.
The Federal Ministry of Economics (BMWK) stated that Philipp was involved in four companies. He reported this in accordance with the regulations when he took office. His investments are managed by third parties, he has no influence on individual transactions. In order to avoid conflicts of interest, he should not make any decisions from which these companies could benefit financially.
Before taking office, he supported small companies as a business angel, the ministry explained. He has not been active in these companies since taking office as State Secretary in the Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of Finance in March 2019. “Due to the illiquidity of the company’s shares, it is not possible to sell the shares,” the ministry said.
The Union does not consider Philipp’s holdings to be problematic per se, but how to deal with them. Group Vice Jens Spahn told the Handelsblatt: “The Greens apply very different standards when they are affected themselves. One is surprised.” Spahn refers to his time as Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance. In 2017, he invested 15,000 euros in a start-up that was developing tax return software, and he was heavily criticized for this, particularly by the Greens.
According to the ministry, the promotion of business start-ups and financial aid in the growth phase are the responsibility of the department of State Secretary Sven Giegold (Greens), not that of Philipp. Although the start-up strategy was developed in Philipp’s department, the specific funding instruments are in Giegold’s department.
Habeck aims to decide on Graichen’s successor before the parliamentary summer recess. The SPD politician Roloff demanded that the personnel be clarified “as soon as possible”. The FDP politician Kubicki is also putting pressure on: “We need an economics ministry that is capable of acting and that is calm in the ship again.” In this respect, he hopes that Habeck “has a lucky hand with this very important personnel matter”.
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