Whether in Berlin, Brussels or elsewhere, German energy politicians are constantly on the move.

Literally, because even the green representatives cover many distances in the car.

Patrick Graichen, the official state secretary in Robert Habeck's (Greens) Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, has recently had to explain his boss's decisions at numerous video conferences - and he often did it from the back of his chauffeur-driven car.

Anyone who was allowed to watch was immediately aware of two infrastructure deficits in Germany: the apparently inadequate public transport and the weak mobile network.

At times the line to the Secretary of State for Energy stalled and he had to switch off the video transmission so that he could at least be understood acoustically.

Christian Geinitz

Business correspondent in Berlin

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Digital and traffic are the responsibility of Volker Wissing (FDP).

Habeck and Graichen, on the other hand, have started to improve the energy infrastructure.

Your commitment is the expansion of climate-friendly power generation and the necessary grids.

In the long term, efforts are also aimed at using hydrogen.

Climate policy slip-up

What the government didn't see coming, however, was the need to take action in completely different areas after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the cut off of fuel supplies.

The completed Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 2 has been shut down, capacities for liquid gas must be created in the North Sea within a very short time, the import and transport of oil and coal must be reorganized, and instead of building new gas-fired power plants - as provided for in the coalition agreement - old ones will be replaced Charcoal kiln reactivated.

This slip-up in climate policy is already causing enough trouble for the Greens.

The shaking of the party's self-image was only surpassed by the consideration of extending the service life of the last three nuclear power plants beyond December 31st.

Business representatives, scientists, foreign governments and the coalition partner FDP advise this.

But the ecologists in the cabinet and in the government factions did not allow it to go that far.

According to the latest decisions, the reactors are scheduled to be taken off the grid at the end of the year, with the two southern German plants remaining in operational or cold reserve until mid-April at the latest.

Graichen is not only there to enforce the decisions and represent them externally, he was also significantly involved in their creation.

The fifty-year-old is considered Habeck's most important support for energy and climate issues, after all relevant tasks from these policy areas were bundled in the "super ministry" with the exception of international relations.

As an ecological spiritus rector, he is suitable in many ways, professionally and through his many years of networking.