The German Greens have nominated Economy Minister and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck as their candidate for Chancellor in the February elections, after winning a large majority at the party congress.
Habeck won the support of 96.48% of delegates at a party congress in Wiesbaden today and has been chosen to run in the elections on 23 February.
The Vice Chancellor has also received the explicit support of the former candidate for Chancellor in the previous elections, the current Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, with whom he once shared the party chairmanship.
"No one can steer the helm in a storm like Robert Habeck and at the same time adjust the sails correctly when the wind is blowing at their backs," said the minister.
In his speech, quoted by Europa Press, Habeck also warned of a repeat in Germany of the so-called Grand Coalition, the joint government of the Social Democrats (SPD) and the conservatives of the CDU/CSU alliance.
Among the problems he intends to address with the Greens are the low employment rate of mothers and the still too restrictive rules on the right of residence of rejected asylum seekers who are willing to work.
For Habeck, the reform of the debt brake, provided for in the Constitution, which the Greens have long called for, should begin before the new elections to the Bundestag (Parliament), scheduled for 23 February.
He also promised favourable electricity prices and announced that, if the Greens return to government, he will take out loans for urgent infrastructure projects.
"I'm not in favor of debt, I just want to get the job done," he told the more than 800 delegates present, who gave a thunderous applause to his nearly hour-long speech, especially when he spoke of higher taxes for the super-rich and the elimination of tax loopholes.
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