Graichen and Habeck in committee
Image: dpa
The best man affair in the Ministry of Economics could expand. Did Habeck’s confidant Graichen deceive others by using the ‘Sie’ for applicants he knew well?
Seldom have so many eyes focused on a committee meeting of the Bundestag as on Wednesday. Actually, it would have been two sessions. In one, the Energy and Climate Committee wanted to ask Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) about his personnel policy. In the other, the Economic Committee wanted to learn from Habeck’s criticized State Secretary Patrick Graichen (also Greens), why he had recommended his best man Michael Schäfer (also Greens) as part of a selection committee for the top post at the German Energy Agency (DENA).
Julia Loehr
Business correspondent in Berlin.
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However, the opposition’s hope of being able to uncover contradictions in the statements made by the two by means of separate surveys was not fulfilled. With the votes of the governing parties, two sessions became one session – which then, for reasons of space, did not take place in the Paul-Löbe-Haus as usual, but in the SPD parliamentary group hall.