The Deputy Minister of Economy Patrick Greichen submitted his resignation today, Wednesday, due to the nepotism and abuse of power scandal that has come to the fore in recent days.

“It’s a difficult decision. Hard for me and hard for Patrick Greichen,” said Finance Minister Robert Habeck, clearly charged, and added that “people make mistakes,” but here are far too many, the ministry’s internal audit revealed. “We have decided not to continue our cooperation”, continued the minister and emphasized that “the stake is the safeguarding of the credibility of the ministry as an institution”.

Mr. Habeck, who until now covered his close associate, with the even the approval of Chancellor Olaf Solz, he also said that Mr. Greichen received more criticism than his fair share and malicious comments from far-right circles on social media, which were then reproduced by pro-Russian accounts. “It is not the first nor the last time, but the political confrontation should not and is not allowed to take place in this way,” the minister added.

The scandal erupted earlier this month when it was revealed that Patrick Greichen was on the committee that selected his best man, Michael Schaefer, to head the economy ministry-supervised Federal Energy Agency (Dena). However, as emerged from the internal investigations, preferential treatment was also given to an environmental organization in which Mr. Greichen’s sister, Verena, who is also the wife of the other Deputy Minister of Economy, Michael Kellner, holds a leading position.