When Robert Habeck took over from Peter Altmaier in the Ludwig-Erhard-Saal of the Economics Ministry almost a year ago, he had big plans. He wanted to “write history together” with the employees of his new super ministry for economy and climate protection. They did that too, albeit a little differently than the first green economics minister imagined at the time. The energy transition became an energy crisis minister, instead of climate protection it was about gas, gas, gas.
You can tell Habeck how much this year has drained him, this ride on a political roller coaster. At the beginning of the Ukraine war, the sympathies just flew to him. After the chancellor immediately fell silent again after his turning point speech, Habeck became the chief explainer of the federal government’s crisis policy: no immediate embargo against Russia, but ending economic dependency as quickly as possible. His bow to the rulers of the gas-rich desert state of Qatar only briefly dampened enthusiasm. The Habeck fan club could hardly be bigger.