Robert Habeck criticizes the self-referential nature of parties and the media

Parties and media, party leaders and editors-in-chief: Former Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) sees parallels. “A party leader who says that I will save democracy, even if it costs my party, will be applauded at first. But only as long as the polls do not go down,” Habeck told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. An editor-in-chief who only publishes informative, technical headlines and articles “will no longer be editor-in-chief for long if circulation falls or advertisements decline.”

"The internal worlds of parties, parliament, the media, social media, have their own logic, they are caught in self-reference. And that is a problem," said the 57-year-old, describing his view.

In this context, Habeck says he sometimes asks himself what would have happened if he had said in the first week after starting as Federal Minister in 2021: “This office is the end point of my political career.” He will do this for four years as a minister, but he will not use his term of office to take up the next political office.

"I would have also said: You can put all your polls in your hair. I don't care at all whether I'm popular or unpopular," said Habeck, who resigned from the Bundestag around a year ago.

The ex-Vice Chancellor himself has ruled out returning to politics. On Sunday he denied the rumor on “Caren Miosga” that he wanted to found his own party with ex-transport minister and ex-FDP politician Volker Wissing. “There are no plans, there are no strategies, and there is no desire to return to politics,” he said on the ARD show. Asked in the “SZ” interview whether that was it with politics, he answered briefly: “Yes.”