Last week I pointed out that the #mathz on shutting down their nuclear reactors was fixin’ to really bite the ruling Greens in the tookus even as they were reeling from losses in April’s regional elections. Their seat at the pinnacle of Germany’s government was suddenly looking very precarious, and there were moments of introspection. Perhaps, some in the party hierarchy’s thinking went, we should take a breather.
Besides the general unrest caused by blackouts and truly unaffordable electricity/energy prices, there had been a Green party scandal which sullied their altruistic image. Energy secretary Patrick Graichen, main architect and driver of the draconian “decarbonization” programs being foisted upon the German people – as well as close friend of Green energy and climate action minister Robert Habeck – was suddenly fired from his post.
The Green Party-appointed energy state secretary in the German Economy and Climate Action Ministry (BMWK), Patrick Graichen, has left his post. The move follows weeks of criticism by the opposition and the media about Graichen’s role in the selection process for a new head of the government-owned German Energy Agency (dena), in which the state secretary, who is responsible for implementing the minister’s policy proposals, failed to disclose early in the process that the ministry’s appointee was the best man at his wedding. Graichen is to be temporarily suspended as a result of further internal audits, Green economy and climate minister Robert Habeck said at a press conference.
In a parliamentary committee hearing one week before Graichen’s exit, Habeck said “I have decided that Patrick Graichen does not have to go because of this mistake,” but announced a civil service law audit, as ministry guidelines had been “clearly violated.”
The internal audit now showed that Graichen had approved a list of project proposals in the context of the national climate action initiative that are eligible for government support, which included a project of NGO Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND), where Graichen’s sister used to be the regional chairperson for Berlin. The project had been classified as worthy of financial support, but the file should neither have been presented to Graichen nor should he have signed it, Habeck said, adding that no funds had been paid out so far.
It was “…one mistake too many,” said Habeck when he sacked his best broski. And then immediately started to whing about how crippled his efforts to continue stomping on everyday Germans would be now that Graichen was gone.
…Kerstin Andreae, head of the energy industry association BDEW and also a Green Party member said the government loses an “internationally highly renowned energy transition expert.” However, she cautioned that the departure of one key individual must not hold up progress overall. “Despite all this, the numerous major tasks and issues of the energy transition must not be held up,” Andreae said.
And, of course, “lessons were learned.”
…“I need to make sure that the compliance firewall has no cracks in it, but cracks have appeared,” he conceded, detailing that aide Patrick Graichen had helped his best man get a government job and also approved €600,000 (£520,000) in funding to a nature organisation headed by his sister.
After the brief period of reflection, ritual cleansing, and getting their butts handed to them at the ballot box, the ruling Green party in Germany has decided?
To GO FOR BROKE anyway.
JUST IN – German Economics Minister Habeck (Green Party) now wants to screen the heat and electricity consumption of all citizens over the last three years, according to a “decarbonization” draft law — BILD
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) May 23, 2023
That’s not totalitarian at all. After this intrusive, authoritarian move a mere 10 days ago…
NEW – From 2024, network operators in Germany will be allowed to limit electricity – without the consent of their customers — BR24 pic.twitter.com/RDuLtutfDg
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) May 12, 2023
…I guess the grossly arrogant way the Greens slash at personal autonomy in the name of their climate gods shouldn’t surprise anyone. But really – YOICKS
Clara the Sinister Construction Minister looks nice, too…for a Bond villainess.
VE AIR HERE TO EENSPECT ZEE BWICKS, MEINE DAMEN UND HERREN
Hopefully, when word of this latest authoritarian measure hits, something else hits the fan and royally. Things have not been at all peachy for Habeck, once the most popular figure in German politics, and gosh – with despotic moves like these, I can’t imagine why.
Hero to zero: The man dragging the German Greens into the political hinterland
A year ago, the Green party’s charismatic figurehead appeared to have built a bond with the German public that would lift him into the chancellery at the next election.
Now, Robert Habeck, vice-chancellor to Olaf Scholz and head of the powerful economics ministry, is fast becoming a liability.
Pummelled by the German press over his chaotic plans to ban gas heating, he has also had to deal with political sleaze inside his ministry that has put him on the front covers of all the German press for all the wrong reasons.
Political magazine Der Spiegel added to the Green politician’s pain in its latest issue, saying he had fallen from the party’s herzensmann (darling) to their schmerzensmann (man of agony).
His power has waned so significantly, SO quickly, that just the other day one of the other two parties in the triumvirate that makes up Olaf Scholtz’s government coalition told Habeck to basically “blow it out your gas” – a move which would have been unthinkable 6 months, heck, 6 weeks ago. Habeck, for his part, lost his little green frontal (g)lobe in an epic tantrum but to no avail.
Relations within German chancellor Olaf Scholz’s fragile coalition government plunged to a new low on Tuesday after the liberals held up one of the Greens’ pet projects — a bill to ban gas boilers in new houses as of next year — prompting accusations of breach of trust and double-dealing.
A clearly furious Robert Habeck, the Green vice-chancellor and economy minister, accused the liberals of “breaking their word”, saying the ruling parties had agreed at the end of March to push the draft law on boilers through parliament before the summer break.
That would now no longer be possible after the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) postponed parliamentary discussion of the bill in its first reading. “I note that the FDP is not honouring the promise they made,” he said.
The row between the FDP and Greens threatens to throw a spanner in the works of Scholz’s legislative agenda, after the Greens threatened to retaliate by blocking bills sponsored by the FDP.
Gas boilers were momentarily saved by the hairs on their chinny chin chins.
Germany is about one or two elections away from killing their own citizens in mass exterminations to save the environment.
And the sad part is that the German citizenship would probably agree to their own elimination. pic.twitter.com/iTww6kxN0Q
— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) May 23, 2023
Sadly, the premise in the tweet above is also true – a majority of Germans polled believe the poppycock they’ve been fed by these people they keep electing. Citizens are only just now waking up to the cost and questioning that.
Most homeowners in Germany support climate-friendly modernisation of heating systems, according a survey by non-profit consultancy co2online. Nearly 80 percent said it is right to replace fossil fuel based systems with renewable-powered systems. The government plans to ensure that new heating systems are powered by at least 65 percent renewable energy through mandatory regulations. While most respondents agreed with the concept, nearly three quarters said a lack of foresight and financial precarity regarding the planned heating transition are a cause for concern, which policymakers should address with better communication, financial support and more reliable procedures. “Homeowners share the goal of a heating transition,” co2online head Tanja Loitz said. “However, the current debate about legal details has caused massive uncertainty to the point where people are genuinely afraid that they cannot afford the challenges ahead,” she added….
Not questioning the bogus rationale. Not questioning The Science™. It’s just expensive – waah.
Good Lord.
Sometimes it’s very hard to develop sympathy for an entire nation of lemmings and I am damn near at that point, only this is the sort of thing that starts wars with neighbors..
It’s as if they said, “My eye hurts, Beege.”
Beege: “Try removing the stick.”
Germans: “But I put it there because Scientists™ told me it would keep the socket warm and be good for the stick.”
Beege:
I got nothin’.
