Robert Habeck (; born 2 September 1969) is a German writer and former politician (Alliance 90/The Greens) who served as Vice Chancellor of Germany, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action in the cabinet of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and as a Member of the German Bundestag for Flensburg – Schleswig from 2021 to 2025. From 2018 to 2022, he also served as co-leader of Alliance 90/The Greens, alongside Annalena Baerbock. For the 2021 German federal election, he was a member of the leading duo, alongside Baerbock, who ran for chancellor of Germany.
Between 2009 and 2012, Habeck was a member of the state parliament of Schleswig-Holstein, where he was also the Greens' parliamentary leader. From 2012 to 2018 he served as the state's Deputy Minister-president and Minister for Energy Transition, Agriculture, the Environment, Nature and Digitization, and a member of the Bundesrat.
Habeck was the Green's candidate for chancellor in the 2025 federal elections. Later in 2025, he resigned his Bundestag seat and retired from politics.
Early life, education and writing Habeck passed his final secondary school examinations in 1989 at the Heinrich Heine School in Heikendorf in the Plön district. After completing his alternative civilian service in 1991 he began studying for a master's degree with a combination of philosophy, German and philology at the Albert Ludwigs University in Freiburg im Breisgau. After the intermediate examination in 1992/93 he attended Roskilde University in Denmark. In 1996 Habeck received a master's degree from the University of Hamburg. From 1996 to 1998 he completed a doctorate at the University of Hamburg and was awarded a doctorate in philosophy in 2000, with a thesis on the depiction of nature in literature.
From 1999 Habeck and his wife Andrea Paluch worked as freelance writers. In addition to children's books and translations of English poetry, Habeck, with Paluch, published six novels, among others, Hauke Haien's Death (2001), The Day I Met My Dead Man (2005) and Under the Gully Lies the Sea (2007). Habeck is fluent in Danish.
State politics In 2009, Habeck was elected to the Schleswig-Holstein Landtag via the party list. In November 2011, he was voted as the top candidate of his party for the 2012 Schleswig-Holstein election. From 2009 to 2012, Habeck was chairman of the Alliance 90/The Greens group in Schleswig-Holstein.
Habeck served as Deputy Minister-President and State Minister for Energy, Agriculture, Environment and Rural Areas in the centre-left Albig Cabinet since 2012 and in the centre-right Günther Cabinet between 2017 and 2018. Under his leadership – he was not a candidate for parliament – the Green Party became the third largest group in the Landtag after the 2017 state elections. As one of his state's representatives at the Bundesrat, he served on the Committee on Agricultural Policy and Consumer Protection; the Committee on the Environment, Nature Protection and Reactor Safety; the Committee on Economic Affairs; and the Committee on Transport. From 2014 and 2016, Habeck was one of the members of Germany's temporary National Commission on the Disposal of Radioactive Waste.
Habeck served as a Green Party delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2012. He ran to become one of the two top candidates for the Greens for the 2017 German federal election, but lost by 75 votes to Cem Özdemir.
National politics On 27 January 2018, the Green Party's national convention in Hanover elected him as chairman, a position shared with Annalena Baerbock. He then resigned from his ministerial posts in Schleswig-Holstein.
Habeck was elected to the Bundestag in the 2021 German federal election, defeating the CDU incumbent Petra Nicolaisen in the constituency of Flensburg – Schleswig.
Vice Chancellor and Minister for Economic Affairs, 2021–2025 After the Greens agreed to form a traffic light coalition government with the centre-left Social Democrats and liberal Free Democrats, new Chancellor Olaf Scholz named Habeck as Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and vice chancellor in December 2021.
Energy policy In January 2022 Habeck, an opponent of nuclear energy, pushed against efforts at the EU level to label it as a green energy source. In March, Habeck's ministry ruled out extending the life of Germany's remaining nuclear power plants, arguing that the costs involved outweighed the benefits. Critics said that nuclear energy was a way to reduce Germany's reliance on Russian gas following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Later, in April 2024, the magazine Cicero claimed that Habeck had misled the public on this issue. The magazine said he had ignored the advice of experts who said nuclear facilities were still safe to operate.
In March 2022, as the Russia–EU gas dispute intensified, Habeck cautioned, "If we do not obtain more gas next winter and if deliveries from Russia were to be cut then we would not have enough gas to heat all our houses and keep all our industry going". He subsequently signed a deal with Qatar for the supply of liquefied natural gas, saying "although we might still need Russian gas this year, in the future it won't be so any more." He said that Germany planned to end imports of Russian natural gas completely by mid-2024.
In April, Habeck presented a package of measures to both reduce reliance on Russian gas imports and speed up Germany's transition to renewable energy. In May, he said that the end of Russian gas imports would permanently raise energy prices in Germany.
In June, Habeck warned that Germany was facing a "more significant" energy crisis than the 1973 oil crisis. After EU leaders announced joint climate measures later that month, Habeck called it "one of the most comprehensive climate packages in EU history" achieved "in the middle of Europe's biggest energy crisis."
In September, with energy-intensive German industry still struggling with rising energy prices, Habeck presented a €200 billion plan to shield producers and consumers from some of the effects. He also announced plans to keep two of Germany's three remaining nuclear power stations on standby, beyond a year-end deadline to ditch the fuel, to ensure enough electricity supply through the winter. Habeck also accused the United States and other "friendly" gas supplier nations of profiting from the Ukraine war with "astronomical prices". He called for Washington to show solidarity with its allies in Europe by reducing prices.
The last three nuclear power plants in Germany were shut down on 15 April 2023.
In July 2023, Habeck stated that the German transition to green energy would "put a burden on people" and there was "a major transformational period ahead of us until 2030". He called for a phase-out of coal by 2030.
In November 2023, Habeck led efforts on backstopping Siemens Energy with guarantees worth ($8.1billion) as part of a deal with other stakeholders to help the energy company fulfil its order book; the guarantees were part of a package totaling agreed with private banks and other stakeholders and also imposed a pause on dividends and higher level bonuses.
In January 2024, he became the target of protests by German farmers for his role in promoting green policies and pushing for cuts in agricultural subsidies.
In September 2024, in response to the threat of mass layoffs at the Volkswagen car manufacturer, Habeck said that the government would consider how it could help Volkswagen. He said that the government should support the transition to electric cars.
Foreign investments and trade Under Habeck's leadership, the ministry stopped Beijing-based Aeonmed Group in April 2022 from purchasing German medical device manufacturer Heyer Medical, based on a government assessment that there were dangers to public safety. In November 2022, he formally blocked Silex, a Swedish subsidiary of China's Sai Microelectronics, from buying a Elmos Semiconductor plant for €85 million, saying the country had to protect key industries from potential security threats.
In September 2022, Habeck confirmed that Germany approved new arms export deals to Saudi Arabia, despite the ban imposed as a result of the Saudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemen.
Habeck voiced support for the European Union–Mercosur free trade agreement, saying the agreement would be "an opportunity for South America as well as for Europe and for Germany".
In March 2023, Habeck participated in the first joint cabinet meeting of the governments of Germany and Japan in Tokyo, chaired by Chancellor Scholz and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
2024 German government crisis In November 2024, two days after the FDP left the coalition due to the ongoing political crisis, which subsequently became a minority government and the Scholz cabinet was reshuffled, Habeck announced that he wanted to be nominated by the Greens as candidate for chancellor for the federal election. At the party conference on 17 November 2024, he was officially elected as candidate for chancellor by the Greens' delegates.
However, in the election, the Greens received only 11.6% of the vote, down from 14.7% the previous time, and were not part of the subsequent coalition government. Habeck lost his seat in the electoral district of Flensburg – Schleswig, but still entered the Bundestag through the state list.
In August 2025, after fives months in the new Bundestag, Habeck announced he was retiring from politics and would become an academic. He officially resigned his Bundestag seat on 1 September, and was succeeded by Mayra Vriesema.Berliner Zeitung: Habecks Nachfolge im Bundestag geklärt, 26jährige Studentin rückt nach, August 27, 2025
Political positions In March 2024 Habeck said:
In an interview in 2018 Habeck positioned himself against an ethnic notion of nationhood, which he differentiated from the notion of a "constitutive people".
In November 2020, Habeck and fellow party members Konstantin von Notz and Irene Mihalic published an "11-point plan against Islamist terrorism". Among the proposals were more resources for the surveillance of individuals who had not committed crimes but police had identified as potential security threats (), and the prohbition of certain Salafist groups.
In 2021, Habeck warned against "accept[ing] the demands of identity politics uncritically".
COVID-19 pandemic In an interview with Der Tagesspiegel at the end of May 2020, Habeck said that the COVID-19 pandemic was "maybe the first time" that health care was more important than economic growth. He called for public funding which had been mobilised to provide relief during the crisis to also be applied to rejuvenate the economy and address the climate crisis.
On 6 May 2021, Habeck demanded the federal government waive patent rights for the COVID-19 vaccine.
Migration & refugees In December 2019, Habeck called for the evacuation of refugee camps on Greek islands on humanitarian grounds, and said countries including Germany should admit the people detained there. In March 2020 he raised the issue again, highlighting the risk of a COVID-19 outbreak in the camps.
In October 2023, Habeck called for more immigration to Germany, saying the shortage of skilled workers was the country’s "most pressing structural problem". In July 2024, He proposed tax relief for skilled foreign workers.
Gaza war On 2 November 2023, Habeck posted a video on X/Twitter about protests in Germany against the Gaza war. He said that burning the Israeli flag or praising Hamas were felony offenses in Germany, and stated: "Germans will have to answer for this in court, while non-Germans also risk losing their residence status. Anyone who does not yet have a residence permit provides a reason to be deported." ("") The video was viewed more than 42 million times in the first two weeks.