Economy Minister Habeck says Germany must reinvent itself once again

The top election candidate for Germany’s Greens, Economy Minister Robert Habeck, said on Tuesday that the country needs a massive new investment programme to boost the economy after 15 years of declining competitiveness.

“Germany must reinvent itself once again,” Habeck said in Berlin at a presentation of the party’s draft campaign manifesto.

Billions of euros worth of investments to rebuild the country’s rail and energy infrastructure are needed, among other projects, and Germany should scrap strict balanced-budget rules to enable debt financing, Habeck said.

The major challenges of the future could not be achieved through budget savings alone: “Anyone who says that is taking the country for a ride,” he said.

He described Germany’s previous three-party coalition government, which collapsed after months of bitter fighting over the budget, as a failure that held lessons for the future.

The alliance of the Greens with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the free-market liberal Free Democrats (FPD) unravelled after Scholz sacked then-finance minister Christian Lindner in November.

Early elections are expected to be held on February 23, with Habeck mounting a long-shot bid to claim the chancellorship.

Habeck on Tuesday said the failures of the “Scholz government” went beyond disagreements on issues, such as budget clashes, and showed a failure to bring rivals together in a common cause.

“Anyone who wants to lead a government must be able to bring together different interests,” Habeck said.

In addition to reforming the rules around government debt, the Greens wanted to close tax loopholes and require the very rich to pay more.

The party co-chair of the Greens, Franziska Brantner, also mentioned tax relief for companies and a reduction in energy fees.

Source: dpa