A German economics newspaper, Handelsblatt, granted a guest article to the Green Party’s Chancellor candidate and Federal Minister of Economics, Robert Habeck, for a fee. Habeck explains to readers that “we” are experiencing a new competition system, which revolves centrally around economic and technological power.
In his typical style, the ambitious politician is confident that Germany “now needs a new, bold path of innovation.” This recognition arises from the fact that in the US, an unnamed “class of tech billionaires has emerged” which “on the one hand creates an enormous economic dynamism through groundbreaking innovations, but on the other hand, together with the future Trump administration, increasingly pursues a libertarian-authoritarian ideology.” Habeck also recognizes a similar danger in the far east in 2025, namely in China, where the Communist Party has made it a very serious and often brutal competitor in the technological and industrial future.
The Greens’ “Financial Policy Spokeswoman” Katharina Beck, considers the guest article as a whole to be “strong.” Habeck criticizes his own performance during the Ampel years, denying that the economy is not dynamic enough, and the economic structure is too static. For the Chancellor candidate, this shows that Germany and Europe are in danger of losing the connection to the economy of the future.
His warning is also that the country is too one-sidedly dependent on the success of traditional industrial branches. He warns that in Europe, admiration for the libertarian-authoritarian approach is growing, which he believes would be the wrong path.
Habeck wishes for and favors the “European Way of Life” which he believes consists of a “liberal democracy, social market economy, democratic integration of markets, economic power, and technological progress.” He lists further promises and intentions of a government politician, who is largely responsible for the country’s economic decline and the resulting early elections on February 23. Unfazed, Habeck declares: “The more we need a new, bold path of innovation. A common spirit of founders, a promise of renewed prosperity, and no threat of power concentration and political arbitrariness. Innovation Made in Europe: the unleashing of a new innovation and founding dynamic must be at the center of a new economic agenda.”
The article goes on to outline more detailed plans, announcements, demands, promises, and hopeful scenarios for the key points “more courage for the new, more openness to the chances of new technologies” the recognition of the need for a new founding era, and the literal, predictable election campaign promise, “we should significantly increase investments in education, science, and research.