The great frustration of the Greens: Why Robert Habeck is now speaking plainly

When Robert Habeck is very annoyed, he presses his lips together and blinks more slowly. He then seems concentrated and frustrated at the same time. It’s a face you only see when it’s really serious. It appeared twice on Tuesday, first at the parliamentary group meeting of the Greens in Weimar and then in a remarkable interview in the daily topics.

It cannot be, said Habeck in front of a green press wall in Weimar, that “in a progressive coalition only one coalition partner is responsible for progress and the others for preventing progress”.

Climate protection would again be turned into a “culture war” in order to gain a “tactical party advantage” from it. “A federal election that rewards those politicians who have solved the least – we don’t feel like it,” he said.

Greens are particularly angry about the role of the SPD

Press conferences at parliamentary group retreats are often a place where phrases are produced. But not on this day. At that moment, Habeck sounded more like the man who appeared on the federal political stage five years ago than like the state vice chancellor, which he has often been in recent months.

The fact that Habeck speaks so openly about his frustration shows how annoyed the Greens are by the traffic light coalition.

They are constantly at odds with the FDP – about the end of the combustion engine at EU level in 2035, about the heat transition, which they had actually already initiated, about the immediate climate protection law, which is agreed in the coalition agreement but depends on the departments.

We have a mandate to do something for the people, for Germany, and at the moment we are not doing enough.

Robert Habeck about the work he traffic light coalition

But the Greens are not only outraged by the FDP, they are also angry about the role of the SPD and especially that of Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “It’s time for the chancellor to take more responsibility for the whole thing,” Greens parliamentary group leader Andreas Audretsch told the Tagesspiegel a few days ago.

Habeck takes conflict to the highest level

Now Habeck has decided to communicate the anger at the coalition partners at the highest level. It is a signal to the SPD and FDP before the coalition committee at the weekend: The Greens do not want to take the sensitivities of the coalition partners into account, above all they no longer want to leave the role of moderator to the SPD.

During the election campaign, the Social Democrats showed Olaf Scholz on a large poster with the inscription “Chancellor for climate protection”. But the Greens think there is little sign of a “climate chancellor”. Many believe that Scholz does not take climate protection seriously enough, apparently the coalition peace with the FDP is more important to him. Without the Liberals, Scholz would not be chancellor, he knows that.

But the Greens want to force the SPD to come out of the reserve. If they want to prevent more climate protection instead of supporting it, as in the case of combustion engines or heating, they should have to admit it, they think.

Habeck complains about playful trust

Habeck’s second appearance on Tuesday evening on the daily topics showed how deadly serious the Greens are about it. Only a few hours after leaving the press conference in Weimar, Habeck followed up again.

“You can’t say now that things are being processed quickly, although in my opinion they are ready for a decision,” he said of the government. “And I would like to put it this way: We have a mandate to do something for the people, for Germany, and at the moment we are not doing enough. That is the purpose of government, to comply.”

He hopes that “many knots” could break through this week. “And then get a really good track record again. But that is certainly not the case at the moment.”

The fact that the draft ban on the installation of new gas and oil heating systems from 2024 was pushed through to the “Bild” newspaper apparently frightened him. He was “a bit alarmed whether there was any willingness to reach an agreement at all,” he said.

The government lost trust as a result. “And a government that gambles away trust has of course lost its biggest pound.” It almost sounds like a threat.

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