With “Maybrit Illner” Robert Habeck once again practiced self-criticism. But then he went on the attack: Markus Söder did not understand the current economic crisis. That’s why the CSU boss acts online as a “food blogger” with a lack of seriousness.
Robert Habeck was self-critical: “We have done a lot of things right, but always too late and always too little.” However, the economics minister added that the war of aggression and dependence on Russian gas were also the cause of the economic weakness of the last two years . The resulting costs had a “full impact” on the industry and inflation, which in turn triggered high interest rates, which caused damage to the construction industry. The weak growth goes “much further back” and is linked to a lack of investment.
On Thursday evening, Maybrit Illner discussed his ideas on questions of foreign, energy, economic and defense policy with the current Vice Chancellor and Green Chancellor candidate Habeck. In addition to the Federal Minister of Economics, the ZDF presenter interviewed the economic historian Adam Tooze, the political scientist Nicole Deitelhoff and Michael Hüther, director of the Cologne Institute of German Economy, under the heading “War, inflation, downturn – Germany before the election”.
Unlike Caren Miosga recently, Habeck now more clearly blamed the FDP for the end of the coalition. It was okay to end an alliance, he admitted, “but the fact that you systematically try to sabotage a government without leaving it does not make you fit to govern.” He hoped for the support of the government in the remaining weeks before the election Union, for example, in reducing electricity prices. He wanted to allay her fears and give him an advantage in the election campaign. “I wouldn’t stand up and say: That was my plan – look, I got my way!” promised the Vice Chancellor.
Habeck still believed in his own chances of success in the coming election. The previous survey results were based on two and a half years of “permanent dispute” and “insufficient answers” from the government. “The surveys move faster than you think,” said the Green politician, describing his observation. “A lot of things that are built up and stuck” can be changed. Whether he could imagine alternatively becoming Vice Chancellor under Friedrich Merz? asked Illner. “We are not at all in a position to distribute positions now. Speculation about this is forbidden.”
“We are affording sclerosis in our structures,” complained Michael Hüther, referring to the local bureaucracy. There is a network of control and reporting obligations on companies. The economist found a possible solution in a historical example. In 1987, Helmut Kohl’s federal government convened a “deregulation commission” that implemented market openings in the areas of telecommunications, insurance and energy, “on which we live today”. “I would recommend that a candidate for chancellor take up such a proposal again.”
Hüther also called for investments. There is a “damn big gap” of 600 billion euros in the infrastructure, which has added up over the past 25 years. On average, Germany invested two percent less of its gross domestic product than its European partners. “And at some point you just notice it,” he explained pointedly and called for an infrastructure and transformation fund as an antidote.
He also recognized a need for investment in the semiconductor industry. “There is no location for microelectronics in the world that has not been boosted with subsidies.” However, these should not be financed through loans, but would have to come from the budget.
Nicole Deitelhoff doubted that “investment programs” and “all the complex plans on how to get out of the structural problems of the German economy” will have a significant influence on the election. Rather, it will be about the “strikingly best offer” to reduce the cost of living. The election campaign is already following the pattern of denying each other’s ability to govern and accusing each other of lying. “This leads to nothing and it further destroys the trust of citizens in the parties and their representatives,” complained the political scientist.
“We have to reinvent ourselves again,” demanded Habeck, “and we shouldn’t convince ourselves that we will get away with the little game of diamonds.” In this context, he made it clear that he considers the CSU chairman to be unsuitable. “Markus Söder’s problem is that he didn’t understand the times we live in,” explained the Green politician. With his “food blogger posts” he sells kebab food as politics. “Cheerfulness, cheerfulness and confidence” are urgently needed, but “if you believe that you can win the election campaign through such antics, then you are fooling the country. That has nothing to do with the challenge we are facing.”
Dominik Lippe regularly reports on the evening political talk shows for WELT. The studied biologist is a graduate of the Axel Springer FreeTech Academy.
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