The Federal Minister of Economics actually wanted to appear at Europe’s largest tech summit in Lisbon next Tuesday. Now he has canceled the trip at short notice. Reason: controversial statements by the summit founder and the government crisis in Portugal.
The most important tech summit in Europe has to take place without the Federal Minister of Economics. Robert Habeck has canceled his trip to Lisbon planned for the beginning of next week. The ministry announced this to press representatives who wanted to accompany the minister on his trip on Wednesday afternoon.
The cancellation “was decided on an overall basis, especially against the background of the current political events in Portugal,” it said in the statement. “The discussion about the Web Summit also played a role.” According to the program, the Federal Minister of Economics was supposed to speak on Tuesday afternoon on the topic of “Germany’s path to a progressive future”.
“War crimes are war crimes”
Previously he had star reported on an open letter from more than 300 Israeli entrepreneurs who had asked Habeck not to take part in the so-called “Web Summit”. The controversy was sparked by the conference’s founder and managing director, Paddy Cosgrave. After the Hamas attacks on October 7th, he made several pro-Palestinian postings on the short message service X. On the day of the attacks, he published statistics that showed a significantly higher number of victims for the Palestinian side in the conflict with Israel. On October 13, he wrote about Israel’s military response to the terrorist attacks: “War crimes are war crimes, even if they are committed by allies.”
Several companies such as Siemens and Intel as well as numerous personalities then canceled their participation. After massive protests over his statements, Cosgrave qualified his statements and ultimately resigned as managing director of the “Web Summit”.
The Israeli tech entrepreneurs nevertheless demanded that Habeck not visit. “We are reaching out to you because we were deeply moved by your historic speech in which you reaffirmed Israel’s right to self-defense,” said the open letter, which was sent to the star is present. And further: “In view of recent developments, your participation in the ‘Web Summit’ sends a contradictory signal, especially to our thriving Israeli business community, which makes an important contribution to the German economy and industry.”
The authors of the letter continue: “Your decision to resign would send a clear message against unacceptable comments that undermine Israel’s legitimate right to self-defense and would strengthen your standing in the global industry that promotes ethical business practices.”
The initiator of the letter is Mor Eini, founder and co-managing director of the “Israeli Technology and Economic Community in Germany”, a network of over 300 Israeli entrepreneurs who, according to their own description, “actively contribute to the German economy through investments, industrial production and innovation”.
For Habeck, the planned trip was not a good one for another reason: he had also wanted to meet several members of the government there during his visit to Portugal. But then Prime Minister António Costa announced his resignation after a corruption scandal. The program also included a meeting with the Portuguese Minister of the Environment. His ministry was searched on Tuesday at the request of the public prosecutor.
Source: Stern
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