Although Robert Habeck admits that the Greens are not doing well at the moment, he is still considering running for chancellor. However, he doesn’t really care about the title of chancellor candidate.
Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck has expressed interest in the Green Party’s candidacy for chancellor in the 2025 federal election. “I would like to be held responsible – for Germany, for my party, for the project, for democracy,” he said in a podcast published on Thursday by the news portal Politico. At the same time, he promoted a political culture in Germany in which the constructive search for solutions is the focus.
Habeck stressed that the decision on the Greens’ candidate for chancellor is not currently pending. For now, other issues are at stake, said the Minister of Economic Affairs: “Everyone has to be clear, including my party, about what we actually want.”
The Greens are currently “boxed in” by the government’s work and the debates within the coalition. “We have to step out there, look at the horizon and say that’s where we want to go,” the Vice Chancellor recommended to his party. Then everyone can decide whether they want to go down this path.
Title of the candidate for chancellor “it doesn’t matter”
In this respect, the title of the candidate for chancellor “is honestly irrelevant, if I may say so,” said Habeck. “That is the least important question.” For him, it is about “that before we have to talk about titles and build trust through strategy, we make an offer to the country and start again where we were in 2020/2021.”
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The situation for the Greens is currently more difficult than it was in the last election in 2021, Habeck admitted. The situation on the field is complicated: “You are substituted in and the score is four nil against you.” In principle, he is prepared to “correct” the Greens’ own positions and create something “new” together. It must be about “solving concrete problems with concrete answers with the broadest possible social majority.”
Robert Habeck criticizes mood in the country
Regarding the political mood in the country, Habeck said that it “must not be shaped by resentment and accusations directed at others”. Simply saying: “The others are stupid” does not get us anywhere and is not attractive to voters. In this context, the Green politician made accusations particularly against the CDU, which, for example, relied on negative advertising against the Greens in the Saxony state election campaign.
All democrats must know “that we must not denigrate each other,” Habeck demanded. Anyone who believes that “we can overcome populism by adopting the means of populism” is “crazy.” Politics must be solution-oriented, “measured by making things possible” and “not say, I’d rather not do that, that could be unpleasant.”
Criticism of AfD and BSW
Habeck sharply opposed the AfD and BSW. They were “undermining the pillars of the republic”, also by adopting and spreading Russian narratives in the Ukraine conflict. Both wanted “a completely different system” in Germany. Habeck said he could not imagine working with the BSW either. He pointed out that the BSW defamed supporters of Ukraine as “murderers” when it resisted Russian aggression.
Habeck as candidate for chancellor would not win back Green voters
15:41 min
In the last federal election, the Greens entered the race with Annalena Baerbock as their candidate for chancellor. Baerbock has since announced that she will not be running for chancellor again. In polls, the Greens are currently between eleven and 13 percent. Nevertheless, Habeck believes the 2025 federal election is completely open. “A lot can still happen,” he said.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
