After the announced separation from State Secretary Patrick Graichen, the Green politician Philipp Nimmermann from the Hessian state government is to take over the post in the Federal Ministry of Economics.
This was learned by the German Press Agency on Monday in Berlin, initially reported by the "Süddeutsche Zeitung". Nimmermann's predecessor Graichen had to give up his post in the course of a felt affair involving personal ties and the awarding of contracts.
In the meantime, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action in Berlin has also confirmed the appointment. Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) praised the 57-year-old Nimmermann as an experienced state secretary with economic expertise and a lot of administrative experience, who will advance the energy transition, the heat transition and the transformation. He should therefore start his work in the ministry "very promptly".
Habeck emphasizes Nimmermann's expertise
Nimmermann has "proven several times that he can stringently structure highly complex tasks, create broadly supported solutions in a politically charged environment and immediately find his way into the issues with his economic mind and his knowledge of political debates," Habeck explained. He will "rethink the processes with a fresh eye" and "integrate the different perspectives with his experience". Nimmermann knows "how political decisions affect people and knows how to find common solutions".
The Frankfurter was formerly chief economist of BHF-Bank and then worked for several years as State Secretary of Finance in Schleswig-Holstein, even when Habeck was Deputy Prime Minister there. In 2019, Nimmermann moved back to his Hessian homeland. Since then, the doctor of economics has been working there in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Energy, Transport and Housing as State Secretary for Economic Affairs. His boss is Tarek Al-Wazir, a member of the Green Party.
According to ministry sources, his tasks in Hesse include stock exchange supervision and energy regulation. One focus of the work of recent years has therefore been the organization and processing of business aid in connection with the management of the Corona pandemic. In addition, the hardship funds were added in the wake of the energy price crisis.
Nimmermann is thus "in direct contact with many companies, solo self-employed persons, associations and chambers in Hesse in order to find solutions together and explain the decisions made". Due to his responsibility for economic development, he also has expertise in state aid law.
Temporary retirement for Graichen
Habeck had put his state secretary Patrick Graichen into temporary retirement on May 17, 2023. Graichen had admitted at the end of April that he had helped his best man to a top post at the state-owned German Energy Agency.
In the course of further investigations, a climate protection project approved by Graichen also came to light. It had been applied for by the Berlin regional association of the environmental organization BUND - on whose board the sister Graichens sits. Graichen's close networking with the Oeko-Institut and the Berlin-based think tank Agora Energiewende had also caused criticism.