Never before in the history of Germany's Green Party has there been this much of a personality cult: Robert Habeck is the top candidate and central to his party's election campaign: His face is printed on countless campaign posters for the February 23 vote, he makes regular appearances on talk shows on traditional media and posts videos to social media channels.

Habeck has three grueling years behind him as part of a federal government that ultimately collapsed after three years of infighting. But he is determined to carry on, to stay in power even though his party is currently only polling between 12 and 14 percent.

He is inundated with attacks on social media by many voters who reject the Greens' ambitious plans for climate protection and the energy transition.

"That was always clear to me: that I would make decisions that are not popular, that are difficult, that put people under pressure," Habeck told DW back in March 2022. "We may not be able to win a majority with these measures, but they still have to be taken because they are the right decisions for the country in the long term."

Habeck announced his bid on social media on November 8, 2024.

Habeck wants to continue to fight for climate protection, for the restructuring of the economy and for high state subsidies. In other words, for the core issues of the Green Party platform. He is not popular with the left wing of his party, which has been incredulous at his approval of measures to tighten asylum and immigration policy.

The conservatives, who are leading in the polls, have long attacked and ridiculed the Greens and their leader. CDU chairman Friedrich Merz, who has a good chance of becoming the next German chancellor, had nothing but scorn and derision for Habeck's candidacy.

A history of ambition

Habeck had a very favorable image with voters at the beginning of his term in office in 2021, with approval ratings much higher than those of taciturn Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Following the start of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, it was Habeck who found simple and heartfelt words to explain the impact of rising energy prices and inflation to the German people.

Habeck, who turned 55 in September 2024, can certainly be described as a career changer in politics. He was in his early 30s when he joined the environmentalist Green Party in 2002. At that time, the Greens were junior partners to the Social Democrats in the German government. That coalition was ousted from power in 2005 at the beginning of what would come to be known as the Merkel era.

Before entering politics, Habeck looked destined for an academic career. He initially studied philosophy, German language and literature and philology before earning a master's degree in 1996 and being awarded his doctorate in 2000. He also spent a year at Denmark's Roskilde University, where he picked up fluent Danish.

People are often dazzled by his conversational grasp of philosophical matters. But there are others who are driven to distraction by what they see as his philosophical flippancy: his habit, for instance, of tossing quotes by great thinkers into a discussion.

Habeck initially earned a living as a writer, co-authoring detective stories and children's books with his wife, Andrea Paluch. Together with their four sons, they live in Flensburg, in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. Germany's northernmost city lies just 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border with Denmark, in a region that is home to a strong Danish-speaking minority.

A strong proponent of wind energy

Habeck's political career really got going in 2012 when he was appointed as Schleswig-Holstein's environment minister — a post he would hold for six years. During that time, he built a reputation as an easygoing, pragmatic Green politician who always had an ear for his SPD coalition partners, as well as for staunch conservatives in the farming community.

This gave the hands-on politician a platform for his efforts to push for a profound shift in Germany's energy policy. As a "windy state," Schleswig-Holstein is suited for wind power, and Habeck set for himself the tough task of winning people over to install giant wind turbines. And it seems he succeeded: From 2012 to 2016, the amount of wind energy generated in Schleswig-Holstein nearly doubled.

In 2017, the Greens in Schleswig-Holstein entered a new coalition government with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrat party (CDU) and the neoliberal FDP. Habeck made the most of the alliance, becoming a close friend of Daniel Günther, the conservative leader of the coalition.

From January 2018 until the 2021 federal elections, Habeck co-chaired the Green Party together with Annalena Baerbock, who later became Foreign Minister. It was a successful time for the Greens, especially in the European elections in May 2019 with 20.5% of the vote. 

When Habeck announced Baerbock as the Green Party candidate for chancellor for the 2021 general election, he was applauded for standing aside. He stood by Baerbock throughout her rocky campaign and sat through countless interviews where he was asked whether he would not have been the better candidate.

Fall from grace

Since the last federal election, Habeck has come to the forefront and taken on a pivotal role as vice-chancellor and economy minister.

In 2022, Russia's invasion of Ukraine spelled the sudden end of cheap oil and gas imports from Russia to Germany. Habeck went on a mission to secure energy imports such as LNG (liquefied natural gas) deliveries from the United States. In countless interviews, Habeck explained the new situation, admitting government shortcomings and preparing people for uncertainty. 

"Putin started the war, and independence from supplies from Russia also means precisely that Putin no longer has the revenue. It is undisputed that we as a society are paying a price for this. High inflation, high energy prices. This triggers fear and concern," Habeck said in 2023.

Habeck's popularity suffered from the botched introduction of a controversial law aimed at phasing out oil and gas heating systems. With the German economy's downturn and the threat of mass redundancies in the industrial sector suffering from weak growth rates, many blamed the economy minister.  

When the center-left coalition of Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP) broke apart over budget issues in November 2024, Habeck openly expressed his disappointment.

"We started out as a social reform project: citizenship, immigration. It was always clear to us that we had major differences on economic and financial policy," he mused. "Then came the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. And the question of how to maintain stability quickly became the most pressing. But it is also historically very annoying that our coalition had such a bad reputation and failed."

Since then, Habeck and his Green Party have been stressing how open they are for new alliances after the February 2025 vote, explicitly including a coalition with the conservatives from the center-right CDU/CSU bloc. 

This article was originally written in German and was last updated on February 6, 2025 to reflect latest developments.

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