This is how Habeck justifies his candidacy for chancellor

Sitting at the kitchen table, Robert Habeck announces his candidacy for the Greens in a video. He doesn’t mention the word candidate for chancellor. He still wants to replace Olaf Scholz.

“I’m running as a candidate from the Greens – for the people of Germany,” says Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck two days after the traffic lights went out at the kitchen table in a supposedly private atmosphere. “If you want, even as chancellor. But that’s not mine, that’s your decision. Only you can decide that.”

In the current one ARD GermanyTrend The Greens are at just 12 percent. He openly admits that the current opinion polls make it difficult to formulate a claim to leadership in the Chancellery. He still wants to become chancellor. “I know that the traffic light government has failed. I know that trust has been destroyed. I know that you have to earn a claim to leadership. I want to earn it.”

In the video that… ARD capital studio was exclusively available and was posted online in the afternoon, Habeck chose a special address. He is trying to present himself as a candidate who seeks direct contact with voters “at the kitchen table” and makes them an offer, but above all wants to listen.

“Maybe I’ll come up with ideas that I would never have thought of otherwise. Maybe we’ll talk at the kitchen table. I think it would be nice if you invited me, and whenever time allows, I incorporate kitchen table conversations into my everyday life the election campaign is really getting started.”

Advertising for Union voters

There is a clear attempt to differentiate himself from Olaf Scholz and Friedrich Merz as an approachable candidate. He doesn’t make any direct reference to the two of them.

“I’m making an offer forward. Because we can’t just hope that everything will be like it used to be. Anyone who looks for solutions in the past is missing out on the future of our country,” says Habeck. Whether Friedrich Merz announced that he would support a move away from combustion engines and a return to nuclear power, this sentence is certainly aimed at Union voters, whom he has already announced that he also wants to win over.

Programmatically vague

Habeck remains programmatically vague when announcing his candidacy: “Germany must invest in the infrastructure and the education system. Germany must stay the course when it comes to climate protection,” he explains. “Don’t settle, just carry on. Both the climate crisis and the necessary climate protection are changing our lives. Climate protection has to work for you in everyday life. And it only works if we also take care of the social issue.”

He is probably referring to the difficulties with the heating law and the climate money that was promised but never introduced – a sentence directed at his own address. The Greens want to discuss guidelines for their election program at their federal party conference next weekend in Wiesbaden. Habeck will then be officially chosen as a candidate by the delegates.

The election campaign should be tailored to Habeck

In the video, Habeck therefore addresses directly to his Greens, who are also supposed to elect his previous State Secretary Franziska Brantner as one of the two chairmen in Wiesbaden. “First I ask my party for the trust to lead it into the next federal election, then you and you, the citizens of our country.”

The vote should probably be secret. According to those close to him, Habeck wants “an honest result”. It is said that the plan is to tailor the election campaign entirely to his person. Despite all humility.