German industry crashes Habeck’s subsidy party

By Jasper Steinlein & Jonathan Packroff

For German Greens Economics Minister Robert Habeck, Tuesday (15 October) was supposed to be a happy day, but some of the country's biggest industries did not share his upbeat mood.

He presented the 15 winners of the new €2.8 billion subsidy scheme for green industries, known as “Carbon Contracts for Difference” (CCfDs), in an event organised by his ministry.

The CCfDs are Habeck's Green Party flagship project. The companies were selected through an auction-style procedure – a first for the notoriously slow admission process of government grants, as pointed out during the ceremony by the minister.

He did not fall short of praise throughout the event. The contracts "are a premiere and unique on a European level,” he said. Like “a rocket launch, the lighting of a signal fire that shows: This is the way to go!"

The ceremony presenter went further and compared the 15-year agreements to marriage contracts. After all, the German statistics office reports that marriages in Germany last 14,8 years on average.

However, just as marriages can fall apart, so too can Habeck’s matchmaking work. With his Green Party polling a mere 13% just before the federal elections in September 2025, his ministry could soon divorce the Green Party and change its political affiliation.

But even before next year, someone else was killing the buzz, a mere 1,000m from the ministry.

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[Edited by Martina Monti/Rajnish Singh]