Robert Habeck takes a self-critical assessment of the 2025 federal election campaign

Former Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck took a self-critical assessment of his 2025 federal election campaign in an interview.

In an interview with the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger” about his new book, he admitted numerous errors. At that time he tried to stabilize the political center with a cross-camp offer. But his own demeanor contradicted this approach.

"I had to acknowledge that I myself had triggered polarization. In this respect, I stood in the way of my own idea," said Habeck. This brought the Greens and himself a “very bad election result”. When asked about his own specific mistakes, Habeck did not want to take stock again. He pointed out that he had already commented in detail on the controversial gas levy, the heating law and his own unfortunate or incorrect statements.

At the same time, he saw polarization as an overarching problem in current German politics. The “permanent escalation and sharpening of their own positions” is driving the current coalition apart just as the traffic lights did before. His conclusion was correspondingly brief: When asked whether Germany was still burning given the political problems, he said: “Germany doesn’t seem to be particularly extinct to me.”

“I don’t believe in fuel discounts”

He was also critical of the current fuel discount. “It was already a mistake at the traffic lights,” says Habeck. The high gasoline prices put a strain on many people, but the discount was only passed on incompletely, was socially unbalanced and created the wrong incentives. In addition, this comes at the expense of other expenses, such as social benefits.