Habeck eyes Green Party in bid to take over Scholz’ job as election looms

By Martina Herzog, Stefan Heinemeyer and Uta Winkhaus, dpa

 

BERLIN – German Economy Minister Robert Habeck of the Green Party plans to run to be the party’s chancellor candidate in the next national election, dpa learned in Berlin on Friday.

The Greens are to nominate their candidate for the top job at the party’s national conference, which begins in the city of Wiesbaden next Friday. Habeck will need to secure the support of party members to be nominated.

The date of the next national election, originally scheduled for September, is currently unclear following the collapse on Wednesday of the governing coalition between the Green Party, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP).

After sacking the leader of the FDP, Christian Lindner, as finance minister, precipitating the party’s withdrawal from the coalition, Scholz tabled a vote of confidence in the lower house, or Bundestag, for January 15.

If this fails, which seems likely, a snap election will be held, most likely in March 2025. But the leader of Germany’s conservative opposition Friedrich Merz has called for the confidence vote to be brought forward to next week, enabling an election in the second half of January.

Habeck, who also serves as vice chancellor, had already hinted at his intention to run for chancellor on Thursday. Almost six years after leaving both X and Facebook, he returned to X to post a statement: “It’s easy to leave places like this to the screamers and the populists. But taking the easy way out can’t be the solution. Not today. Not this week. Not in these times. That’s why I’m back on X.”

In another post, the Green politician can be seen editing a text manuscript. In the background is a calendar, on which November 8 is circled in red, and Habeck is humming the German hit “Zeit, dass sich was dreht” (time for a change).

Habeck has been widely expected to run to be the Green Party’s candidate after his only serious rival, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock – who ran as the Green chancellor candidate in the 2021 election – said she would not pursue a candidacy for chancellor in the next election.

At the end of September, Baerbock told the German broadcaster ARD: “Robert Habeck is the one who will lead us into the federal election campaign.”

If nominated, Habeck will need to tread a fine line to win over centrist voters without alienating his party base. As economy minister and vice-chancellor, he has negotiated compromises that the left wing of his party has resented, including on tighter migration policies.

This looks to be no easy task as his party currently languishes at between 9% and 11% in the polls. Habeck in particular is likely to face resistance due to Germany’s poor economic situation, with wrangling over economic policy having triggered the collapse of the coalition.