Robert Habeck: A look at the Greens politician

Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany actually wanted to be Robert Habeck four years ago. But in the Bundestag election at the time, he had Annalena Baerbock ahead. It was “the most painful day” in his political career, said Habeck at the time and subsequently caused doubt as to how voluntarily his waiver was really: “I wanted nothing more than serving this republic as a chancellor.”

Baerbock then stumbled powerfully in the election campaign and lost increasingly trust among the citizens due to a CVs and plagiarism allegations. The rest is known: Laschet laughed and Scholz made the race. The dream of the first Green Chancellor was now dreamed of.

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But Habeck still believes in it – or again. He wants to try again. This time nobody stands in the way at least in the party: In November, the Greens at the Federal Party Conference clearly voted 96.48 percent for the 55-year-old as a candidate for chancellor. As already in 2021, he forms a duo with Annalena Baerbock in the election campaign, but now with exchanged roles. The Foreign Minister supports him in the race for chancellorship.

As a vice -chancellor and business minister, government experience now also has to show at federal level. However, the crashing of the traffic light coalition and the associated resentment of some citizens towards him and his party are sitting on his neck.

Habeck is considered a proven real politician within his party. In the foreground he puts the alliance of the Greens in the political center. “We have to build bridges” and “be unable to unable,” he said in a party speech. The Vice Chancellor advertises a political culture in which the search for solutions is a priority. There is also an opportunity to learn in politics – like everyone else every day “.

The native of Lübeck brings the willingness to compromise from his home state of Schleswig-Holstein, where he was a minister and deputy prime minister in the state government for over six years. There he was well received by the general population. Also among farmers who otherwise feel little understood by the Greens, as the peasant protests showed at the beginning of last year. Habeck himself lives rural with his family, near the Danish border.

The North German learned that compromises of larger caliber are needed at the federal level. During his term as Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, he was in a permanent balancing act between the favor of his party colleagues and that of the people. Achieve climate protection goals and secure energy supply – not that easy.

After Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022, the Green politician traveled to Qatar to win new gas suppliers. He subordinated the ideals of his party to the energy supply of Germany and even bowed to the rulers of the desert state. Habeck then reported in one and described the trip as “totally strange”, but explained the need for his approach.

This open communication was well received by the German population, less for some party colleagues. Just like Habeck’s proposal, with regard to the economic situation, not to “put one” with regard to the economic situation. When the nuclear power plants in Germany ran longer than planned and the coal was dredged under the town of Lützerath, some Greens politicians would have liked more protest from Habeck.

The situation was different in the controversial heating law in 2023. Fossil heating should be gradually replaced by climate -friendly, the plan was Habeck and his party. But the project caused uncertainty among citizens, too many questions remained open for a long time: How strict is the law? What funding are there? Habeck was faced with increasing criticism because skeptics blamed him for the chaos around the law. “I went too far,” he admitted later.

Weighing up the compromises and the ideals of his party have accompanied the Greens politician in recent years. There is already a term for his politics: “Habeckism”.

Overall, Robert Habeck had no easy term. At the moment he is also in an economic crisis and has to get his own party from a survey low. Not the best starting point for the election campaign.

To improve his image and that of the Greens, Habeck is currently using all channels. He even returned to X (formerly Twitter), while other users tend to leave the platform these days because of their owner, the US billionaire and Trump-Buddy Elon Musk. Sometimes Habeck also strikes the strands with his productions on social media (read: “Habeck’s Auschwitz-Fauxpas: In some places, staging is forbidden”).

In mid-January, the Vice Chancellor was a guest in Maximilian Knabe alias “Handofblood” in mid-January, spoke about East Frisian jokes, beer types and species-appropriate animal husbandry. The Greens are “cool, but a little freaky”. The goal of such actions is obvious: winning young voters. Whether Habeck succeeds is shown in the Bundestag election on February 23. His party is at least closed behind him. Despite unpopular compromises in the past.

More sources:“,”, with AFP material