2023-05-18 11:13:06
Dhe announced departure of Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Patrick Graichen triggered a debate in the coalition about the schedule for the controversial Building Energy Act (GEG). The FDP is in favor of extending the timetable for the project, also known as the Heating Act, on the grounds that Parliament has lost the contact person for the topic. The SPD and the Greens see no connection between the two issues.
Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) announced the resignation of his State Secretary Graichen on Wednesday after he had not sufficiently separated private and professional life in two understandable cases. Graichen played a central role in the energy transition. Habeck is aiming for the law to be passed before the parliamentary summer recess, which begins on July 7.
“It’s impossible to say goodbye before the summer break”
“I think it’s out of the question to say goodbye before the summer break,” said FDP Secretary General Bijan Djir-Sarai of the “Bild” newspaper. “It is not decisive when the GEG is passed. It is crucial that it becomes a good law that does not overwhelm anyone and enables many technologies,” emphasized Djir-Sarai.
He announced a catalog of questions from his group to Habeck. “The FDP parliamentary group still has around 100 questions for Robert Habeck. As long as they are not answered, the deliberations on the law cannot begin,” said the FDP Secretary General.
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 SPD and the Greens are resisting the FDP’s demand to delay the schedule. SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert said in the ZDF “heute journal” with a view to the departure of Graichen: “Both issues have nothing to do with each other.” There is no climate neutrality in Germany without approaching the type of heating. Nothing has changed in this need.
Green parliamentary group leader Katharina Dröge sees it the same way. If the FDP announces a delay, it is because they want to postpone something, said Dröge on Wednesday evening on the ARD program “Maischberger”. Many employees of two ministries were involved in the law. In addition, parliaments could write and edit laws themselves.
“The heating exchange law must go back to the workshop”
Left faction leader Amira Mohamed Ali sees Minister Habeck “severely damaged” by Graichen’s mistakes. “Depending on what is still being brought to light, his whereabouts in office must also be questioned,” she told the “Rheinische Post” (Thursday). “The investigation must continue.”
The Union also sees a need for clarification. The Economics Committee of the Bundestag wants to deal with further open questions on the policy of the Ministry of Economics next Wednesday. This emerges from the agenda that is available to the German Press Agency. “Now we have to make a clean sweep. The heating exchange law has to go back to the workshop. The attempt to push the half-baked Habeck draft through the Bundestag before the summer break must be stopped,” said CSU finance politician Sebastian Brehm.
The committee should first decide in the morning whether there will be a joint meeting with the Committee on Climate Protection and Energy and 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”.
The Economics Committee also expects 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 report by Business Insider, Philipp has invested private money in several startups, raising questions from the opposition given his position at the ministry.
The ministry explained that Philipp had disclosed his financial situation in accordance with the code of conduct when he took office, that his shares were managed by third parties and that he had no influence on individual transactions. Before taking office, he supported small companies as a “business angel”. He has not been active there 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. As a precaution, however, it is regulated that Philipp does not make any decisions from which these companies could benefit financially. 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).
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