Robert Habeck

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Robert Habeck
MdB
File:2021-12-07 Unterzeichnung des Koalitionsvertrages der 20. Wahlperiode des Bundestages by Sandro Halank–018 (cropped).jpg
Habeck in 2021
Vice Chancellor of Germany
Assumed office
8 December 2021
Chancellor Olaf Scholz
Preceded by Olaf Scholz
Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action
Assumed office
8 December 2021
Chancellor Olaf Scholz
Preceded by Peter Altmaier
Leader of Alliance 90/The Greens
In office
27 January 2018 – 29 January 2022
Serving with Annalena Baerbock
Deputy <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Preceded by Cem Özdemir
Succeeded by Omid Nouripour
Deputy Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein
In office
12 June 2012 – 6 February 2018
Minister-President Torsten Albig
Daniel Günther
Preceded by Heiner Garg
Succeeded by Monika Heinold
Minister for Energy Transition, Agriculture, the Environment, Nature and Digitization of Schleswig-Holstein
In office
12 June 2012 – 31 August 2018
Minister-President Torsten Albig
Daniel Günther
Preceded by Juliane Rumpf
Succeeded by Jan Philipp Albrecht
Leader of Alliance 90/The Greens in the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein
In office
27 October 2009 – 12 June 2012
Preceded by Karl-Martin Hentschel
Succeeded by Eka von Kalben
Parliamentary constituencies
Member of the Bundestag
for Flensburg – Schleswig
Assumed office
26 October 2021
Preceded by Petra Nicolaisen
Member of the Bundesrat
for Schleswig-Holstein
In office
12 June 2012 – 6 February 2018
Preceded by Heiner Garg
Succeeded by Monika Heinold
Member of the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein
In office
27 October 2009 – 12 June 2012
Preceded by Multi-member district
Succeeded by Detlef Matthiessen
Constituency Alliance 90/The Greens List
Personal details
Born (1969-09-02) 2 September 1969 (age 54)
Lübeck, West Germany
Political party Alliance 90/The Greens
Spouse(s) <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • Andrea Paluch (m. 1996)
Children 4
Residence Flensburg
Alma mater Roskilde University
University of Hamburg (Dr. phil.)
Occupation
  • Politician
  • writer
Profession Philosopher
Website <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>

Robert Habeck (German pronunciation: [ˈroːbɛrt ˈhaːbɛk]; born 2 September 1969) is a German politician and writer, serving as Vice Chancellor of Germany, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and as a Member of the German Bundestag for Flensburg – Schleswig since 2021. From 2018 to 2022, he also served as co-leader of Alliance '90/The Greens, alongside Annalena Baerbock.

For the federal elections in 2021 he was a member of the leading duo, alongside A. Baerbock, who ran for chancellor. In 2009 he was voted into the state parliament of Schleswig-Holstein as a deputy of The Greens and became group chairman. Both, at early elections in 2012 and at the federal elections in 2017 he run as the top candidate of his own party. From 2012 to 2018 he held office as deputy prime minister and minister for energy revolution, agriculture, environment, and nature (since 2017 for digitalization[disambiguation needed] as well) for the cabinet of Albig as well as for the cabinet of Günther. After he was elected federal chairman of his party in 2018, he retired from his function as minister.[1] At the federal elections of 2021 he achieved the direct mandate of his electoral-district Flensburg-Schleswig with 28.1 percent of first votes. Habeck is allocated to the political- realists of the Green Party.[2]

Early life, education and writing

Habeck passed his final secondary-school examinations in 1989 at the Heinrich Heine School in Heikendorf in the Plön (district). After completing his alternative civilian service in 1991 he began studying for a master’s degree with a combination of philosophy, German and philology at the Albert Ludwigs University in Freiburg im Breisgau. After the intermediate examination in 1992/93 he attended Roskilde University in Denmark. In 1996 Habeck received a master's degree from the University of Hamburg. From 1996 to 1998 he completed a doctorate at the University of Hamburg and was awarded a doctorate in philosophy in 2000.[3]

From 1999 Habeck and his wife Andrea Paluch worked as freelance writers. In addition to children's books and translations of English poetry, Habeck (with Paluch) published six novels: among others, Hauke Haien's Death (2001), The Day I Met My Dead Man (2005) and Under the Gully lies the sea (2007).[4] He is fluent in Danish.[5]

Political career

Career in state politics

In 2009, Habeck was elected to the Schleswig-Holstein Landtag via the party list.[6] In November 2011, he was voted as the top candidate of his party for the 2012 Schleswig-Holstein election. From 2009 to 2012, Habeck was chairman of the Alliance'90/The Greens group in Schleswig-Holstein.

Habeck has been Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister for Energy, Agriculture, Environment and Rural Areas in the centre-left Albig Cabinet since 2012 and in the center-right Günther Cabinet between 2017 and 2018. Under his influence – he was not a candidate for parliament – the Green Party became the third largest group in the Landtag after the 2017 state elections. As one of his state's representatives at the Bundesrat, he served on the Committee on Agricultural Policy and Consumer Protection; the Committee on the Environment, Nature Protection and Reactor Safety; the Committee on Economic Affairs; and the Committee on Transport. From 2014 and 2016, Habeck was one of the members of Germany's temporary National Commission on the Disposal of Radioactive Waste.[7]

Role in federal politics

Habeck served as a Green Party delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2012.[8] He ran to become one of the two top candidates for the Greens for the 2017 German federal election, but lost by 75 votes to Cem Özdemir.[9]

On 27 January 2018, the Green Party's national convention in Hanover elected him as chairman, a position shared with Annalena Baerbock.[10]

Habeck was elected to the Bundestag in the 2021 German federal election, defeating the CDU incumbent Petra Nicolaisen in the constituency of Flensburg – Schleswig. After the Greens agreed to form a traffic light coalition government with the centre-left Social Democrats and liberal Free Democrats, new Chancellor Olaf Scholz named Habeck as Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and Vice Chancellor in December 2021, making him one of the most powerful politicians in Europe.[11]

Political positions

Domestic policies

Habeck repeatedly declared himself in favor of evacuating refugees out of the camps on the Greek islands.[12][13]

In November 2020, Habeck presented a 11-points-action-plan against potential Islamic offenders, which he worked out with Konstantin von Notz and Irene Mihalic, politicians for domestic policy. One topic of this paper is to recruit more staff for the local authorities to make closer surveillance and eventually a more consequent enforcement of prevailing arrest warrants possible. Another aspect of these demands was the prohibition of relevant Salafist associations.[14]

In an interview in 2018 Habeck positioned himself against an ethnic notion of nation, which he clearly differentiated from the notion of constitutive people.[15] Additionally, he warned of uncritically acquiring the demands of identity politics.[16]

COVID-19 pandemic

In an interview with the Tagesspiegel at the end of May 2020, Habeck argued that because of the Covid-Crisis it is “maybe the first time” that healthcare has been more important than profit interests and economic growth. “The moral is that we have to configure our economy in a way that it supports common interests and that it becomes crisis-proof as well”. Part of this was environmental and climate protection. “The time of minor compromises is over. All parties can think much bigger”. The money that had been made liquid for the crisis management, must also be used to fight the economic crisis as well as the climate crisis. The past idea that a speed-limit on German Autobahn would restrict personal freedom, seemed ridiculous after the decisions that had been made concerning the Covid-Crisis. “If one acts brave enough, one can broadly anchor the willingness of change. Ambitious politicians have received a second-wind.[17]

On May 6, 2021, Habeck demanded the federal government to waive patent rights for the Covid-19 vaccine.[18]

Other activities

  • KfW, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Supervisory Directors (since 2021)[19]
  • RAG-Stiftung, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2021)[20]

References

  1. Grüne ändern für Robert Habeck ihre Satzung. In: spiegel.de. 26 January 2018, Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  2. Baerbock und Habeck: Umbruch bei den Grünen mit Realo-Doppelspitze. In: Zeit Online. 27 January 2018, Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  3. Robert Habeck: Die Natur der Literatur: zur gattungstheoretischen Begründung literarischer Ästhetizität, Dissertation Universität Hamburg 2000, Königshausen und Neumann, Würzburg 2001, ISBN 3-8260-2066-9
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  12. Robert Habeck möchte Migranten aus Griechenland holen. In: tagesspiegel.de. 21 December 2019, Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  13. Grünenchef Habeck fordert Evakuierung griechischer Camps. In: spiegel.de. 29 March 2020, Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  14. Null-Toleranz-Strategie gegen islamistische Gefährder – 11-Punkte-Plan gegen islamistischen Terrorismus. In: robert-habeck.de, Retrieved am 23 March 2021.
  15. Es gibt kein Volk“: Habeck wehrt sich gegen Angriffe. dpa–Newskanal. In: sueddeutsche.de, 8 May 2018.
  16. Habeck: Identitätspolitische Forderungen nicht kritiklos übernehmen. In: report-k.de. 13 January 2021, Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  17. „Die Zeit der kleinen Kompromisse ist vorbei.“ Grünen-Chef Robert Habeck über Konjunkturpaket, Kanzlerin und Kurzstreckenflüge. In: Der Tagesspiegel, 31 May 2020, p. 3. (changed title of online edition; Retrieved 31 May 2020.)
  18. jos: Grünenchef Habeck fordert Patent-Aussetzung für Coronaimpfstoffe. In: Spiegel. 6 May 2021, Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  19. Board of Supervisory Directors and its Committees KfW.
  20. Board of Trustees RAG-Stiftung.