Robert Habeck

Robert Habeck (born 2 September 1969) is a German Green politician and writer who has been serving as Vice Chancellor of Germany, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action in the cabinet of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and as a Member of the German Bundestag for Flensburg – Schleswig since 2021.

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.

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).

Habeck is fluent in Danish.

In 2009, Habeck was voted into the state parliament of Schleswig-Holstein as a deputy of The Greens and became group chairman.

In 2009, Habeck was elected to the Schleswig-Holstein Landtag via the party list.

From 2009 to 2012, Habeck was chairman of the Alliance 90/The Greens group in Schleswig-Holstein.

In November 2011, he was voted as the top candidate of his party for the 2012 Schleswig-Holstein election.

In both early elections in 2012 and at the federal elections in 2017 he ran as the top candidate of his own party.

From 2012 to 2018 he held office as deputy minister-president and minister for energy revolution, agriculture, environment, and nature (since 2017 for digitisation as well) for the cabinet of Albig as well as for the cabinet of Günther.

Habeck served as 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.

Habeck served as a Green Party delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2012.

From 2014 and 2016, Habeck was one of the members of Germany's temporary National Commission on the Disposal of Radioactive Waste.

Under his leadership – 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.

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.

From 2018 to 2022, he also served as co-leader of Alliance 90/The Greens, alongside Annalena Baerbock.

For the 2021 German federal election, he was a member of the leading duo, alongside Baerbock, who ran for chancellor of Germany.

After he was elected federal chairman of his party in 2018, he retired from his function as minister.

At the 2021 federal elections, he achieved the direct mandate of his electoral district of Flensburg – Schleswig with 28.1 percent of first votes.

Habeck is aligned with the political-realists of the Green Party.

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

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.

In March 2023, Habeck participated in the first joint cabinet meeting of the governments of Germany and Japan in Tokyo, chaired by Chancellor Scholz and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

In April 2022, Habeck presented a package of measures to speed up Germany's expansion of renewable energy, as the need to reduce the country's heavy reliance on Russian fossil fuels added urgency to its green transition plans; the package envisaged green energy accounting for 80% of the power mix by 2030, up from about 40% in 2022 and a previous target of 65%.

An opponent of nuclear energy, Habeck pushed against efforts at the EU level in 2022 to label nuclear power as a sustainable and green energy source.

However, amid the 2022 Russia–European Union gas dispute, he announced plans to keep two of Germany's three remaining nuclear power stations on standby, beyond a year-end deadline to ditch the fuel, to ensure enough electricity supply through the winter during a gas crunch.

When energy-intensive German industry and German exporters were hit particularly hard by the 2021–present global energy crisis, Habeck presented on 29 September 2022 a €200 billion plan to support industry and households.

On 5 October 2022, Habeck accused the United States and other "friendly" gas supplier nations that they were profiting from the Ukraine war with "astronomical prices".

He called for more solidarity by the US to assist energy-pressed allies in Europe.

In July 2023, Habeck stated that the German transition to green energy will "put a burden on people" and there's "a major transformational period ahead of us until 2030".

In November 2023, Habeck led efforts on backstopping Siemens Energy with guarantees worth 7.5 billion euros ($8.1 billion) as part of a deal with other stakeholders to help the energy company fulfil its order book; the guarantees were part of a package totaling 15 billion euros agreed with private banks and other stakeholders and also imposed a pause on dividends and higher level bonuses.

Under Habeck's leadership, the ministry stopped Beijing-based Aeonmed Group in April 2022 from purchasing German medical device manufacturer Heyer Medical, based on a government assessment that there were dangers to public safety.

In November 2022, he formally blocked Silex, a Swedish subsidiary of China's Sai Microelectronics, from buying a Elmos Semiconductor plant for €85 million, saying the country had to protect key industries from potential security threats.