Friday, July 9th, 2021
After criticizing Baerbock
Habeck: No change of candidate for chancellor
Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock has recently come under fire, the polls are falling. But there is no question of a possible replacement of the top candidate within the party, emphasizes the co-chairman of the Greens, Robert Habeck. However, he also says: “There were technical mistakes.”
Robert Habeck has countered all speculation that the Greens could replace Annalena Baerbock as candidate for chancellor. The party’s co-chairman told the Süddeutsche Zeitung: “This is Kokolores.” The Greens had only just elected Annalena Baerbock as their candidate for chancellor with almost one hundred percent. Now it is a matter of “making the best of this leap of faith that the party has given them.” Habeck emphasized that there was no thinking or talking about a change. “No. This is not a debate,” said Habeck.
The co-boss of the Greens also admitted that the mishaps and omissions had annoyed him too. “There were technical mistakes,” Baerbock admitted. At the same time he contradicted the claim that Baerbock was an impostor. “It is not,” said Habeck. “Annalena Baerbock is a woman who is driven by the topics and their implementation. For this she takes high personal risks, as you can see now.”
Habeck was confident that he could regain the trust that had been lost. “We still have a good two months until election night.” During this time, the party could make it clear that “trust in the right politics should determine the vote.” He therefore sees “great opportunities to gain trust in this precious commodity in the course of the election campaign”.
“Nothing at all went”
Habeck also opposed assessments that the race for the Chancellery had already been lost for the Greens. “Nothing went off.” The last few weeks were “not a masterpiece”. “But we are still in very good shape – good enough to have a brilliant election campaign with friendliness and joy and the ease of summer.”
Habeck also contradicted the thesis that the Greens would have to start the election campaign over. “We don’t need a restart,” said Habeck. “We have to go back to the things that put us in the position of even naming a candidate for chancellor.” This includes a “sharp definition of the major key concepts of our republic: freedom, prosperity, growth and justice.” What is also needed is “an advertising language” and “inviting communication that does not come across as know-it-all”.
Addressing his own people, Habeck said that his party had done well with “not formulating a yapping but an embracing, inviting policy”. This also includes not slipping into the old trenches. “This is not a good place to get stuck in,” said the Greens co-boss. “Trenches are not a good place to be for a long time for a party that has its roots in pacifism.”
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