New fuss about the Ministry of Economics: Against the background of a debate about family ties of important employees of Minister Robert Habeck (Greens), the department wants to review the replacement of a post. The procedure for appointing a new chairman of the management of the German Energy Agency (dena) should be reviewed and, if necessary, redesigned, the ministry announced on Thursday.

At the beginning of the week, State Secretary for Economic Affairs Patrick Graichen informed Habeck that the new dena boss Michael Schäfer was his best man. "Consequently, the appearance of possible bias cannot be completely ruled out," the ministry said. The minister then asked for an internal audit immediately at the beginning of the week.

In order to remedy the mistake, State Secretary for Economic Affairs Stefan Wenzel, as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of dena, asked the Supervisory Board on Thursday to review the procedure and, if necessary, to set it up again.

"From a purely legal point of view, there were no errors in the procedure; the resolutions of dena's Supervisory Board are effective. But due to an error in an upstream pre-selection process, the appearance of possible bias may have arisen." This was the result of the internal audit initiated at Habeck's request.

Irritation among the opposition

Family ties of important employees of Habeck had caused irritation among the opposition. CDU MP Tilman Kuban spoke of "mafia-like tendencies" during a debate in the Bundestag on Wednesday, while Stephan Brandner of the AfD, at whose instigation the Bundestag in Berlin discussed the issue in a Current Hour, spoke of "green clan structures". Representatives of the traffic light factions emphasized that no rules had been violated. When asked, the Ministry of Economy said that precautions had been taken to prevent conflicts of interest.

Two of Habeck's high-ranking employees have family ties to the Oeko-Institut, an ecologically oriented research institution. State Secretary Graichen's sister, Verena Graichen, works for the nature conservation organisation BUND and, like another brother, for the Oeko-Institut, as summarised by SPD MP Markus Hümpfer, among others. Verena Graichen, in turn, is married to the parliamentary state secretary for economic affairs, Michael Kellner (Greens).

According to its own statement, the state-owned German Energy Agency sees itself as a "pioneer" of the energy transition. According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the decision on the review and possible re-establishment of the procedure for dena's top post lies with the Supervisory Board.

Multi-stage selection process

At the beginning of April, dena announced that its shareholders and Supervisory Board had appointed Schäfer as the new Chairman of dena's Management Board with effect from 15 June 2023. The administrative scientist will manage dena's business together with Kristina Haverkamp, whose contract has been extended.

Schäfer was previously a member of the management of the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union of Germany and sat for the Greens in the Berlin House of Representatives.

According to the ministry, the supervisory board unanimously decided in favour of Schäfer after a selection interview due to his "outstanding qualifications". The shareholders' meeting had given its approval.

Among others, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of the Environment are represented on dena's Supervisory Board. The shareholders' meeting consists of the state-owned development bank KfW and the Federal Government, represented by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which decides in agreement with other ministries.

According to the ministry, the selection process for the replacement of the management board took place in several stages. A search committee had been formed in advance. This consisted of Wenzel, State Secretary Graichen, who was responsible for the technical situation, the head of department responsible for the management of the investment and as a guest of dena's second managing director.

An external personnel service provider had been commissioned to search for suitable candidates. "The selection committee then held interviews with selected candidates, made a pre-selection and submitted a personnel proposal to dena's Supervisory Board on the basis of the best qualifications." The personnel decision itself was then made by the dena Supervisory Board with the consent of the shareholders' meeting. According to the Ministry, the error lies in the stage preceding the formal selection procedure.