A Writer in Politics — Who is Chancellor candidate Habeck

An early election for the German Bundestag will be held on February 23, and the media has already named several people as the main candidates and rivals for the chancellorship. Among the top four is politician and author Robert Habeck.

Discover his years-long involvement in the German political network and his perspective on the war in Ukraine in this report by Novyny.LIVE.

Robert Habeck's career

The politician serves as Vice Chancellor of Germany and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection in the government of current Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He is a member of the Union 90/Greens party and led it until 2022.

It should be added that this is one of the ruling parties in Germany. This party was formed from public organizations, including environmental ones. Their key thesis is long-term development.

Robert Habeck began his political career with the party, running for local elections in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg. From 2012 to 2018, he served as a state minister and was the leading candidate in the 2017 chancellor election.

But back at university, Habeck studied philosophy and didn't think about politics. He began his writing career with children's books and detective stories. 

Robert Habeck and the war in Ukraine

The outbreak of the war in Ukraine in February 2022 dramatically changed the politician's career, because the party's plans changed. As a member of the ruling coalition, they planned to reconstruct the economy, but everything changed due to the refusal to buy Russian gas.

As a reminder, Chancellor Olaf Scholz supported sanctions against Russia over Nord Stream 2, and Habeck supported the supply of arms to Ukraine.

But he began to worry about the standard of living in Germany, in terms of food prices. After all, the war in Ukraine had affected this as well.

A year later, in February 2023, he said: "Putin has started a war, and independence from energy supplies from Russia also means that Putin will no longer have any income. There is no doubt that we, our society, are paying a price for this. High inflation, high energy prices".

In April 2024, Habeck arrived in Kyiv with a delegation, saying that Ukraine needed support in its fight for freedom.

"Yes, Ukraine is fighting for its own self-determination, for its territorial integrity against Putin's aggression, but it is also fighting for the values that unite and define Europe," Habeck said during his visit.

Currently, the chances of his party winning the federal election are low.

Earlier, Novyny.LIVE wrote about the key candidates for the German chancellorship — Olaf Scholz, Friedrich Merz and Alice Weidel.