Critics are increasingly questioning how Katherina Reiche manages the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs. They accuse her of micromanaging and of failing to involve experts. A document that circulates within the ministry dictates, in painstaking detail, how the ministry chief’s speeches should be prepared.
The instructions cover everything from the speaker’s audience analysis (“What do the listeners expect?”) to the smallest technicalities. For example, the opening address must be written “without bullet points, left‑aligned” and the speech text must use “detailed punctuation”. Brackets are only allowed if they are “unavoidable”. All documents must be formatted in A4 portrait, Arial 16 pt, 1.5 line spacing.
According to the Spiegel report, the memo was sent to LB 4, the department responsible for speeches and strategic communication. Yet, insiders confirm that the ministry no longer has speechwriters. Its former head, appointed by former minister Robert Habeck (Greens), left immediately after the change of government, and the two speechwriters who served under her also departed. The ministry declined to disclose whether and when those positions will be refilled.
The formatting guidelines serve as a symbol of Reiche’s micromanagement for some in the ministry, a tendency that apparently extends to other areas. Early this month, the head of industrial policy reportedly told her staff how to correctly organize the ministers’ folders and how Reiche should be briefed on subjects-a practice said to have spread to other departments, according to sources close to the ministry.
For the revision of the Renewable Energy Sources Act, Reiche reportedly sought input from the CEOs of major energy groups, while her own technical department simultaneously communicated with the same companies at a parallel level. At a board‑and‑council meeting of the Federal Association of Energy and Water Industry in October, the CDU politician was allowed to submit only pre‑written questions; participants say the ministry refused to comment on the process.
Several key legislative initiatives under the ministry’s lead have fallen behind schedule, including the industrial electricity tariff and the amendment of the Building Energy Act. Negotiations for a national power‑plant strategy have also taken longer than expected.
Patience in the industrial sector is running thin. “The sense of a breakthrough is fading” said Johannes Gernandt, chief economist of the VDMA engineering‑industry association, to the Spiegel. “We need real reforms and uncomfortable decisions-now”. In Schleswig‑Holstein, energy and environment minister Tobias Goldschmidt (Greens) warned that, because of uncertainty, no companies have bid for new offshore wind sites recently. The financial terms and future allocation of areas remain unclear. “Given the importance of offshore energy, Reiche should convene a crisis summit involving all stakeholders to secure further development” Goldschmidt urged. “Instead, nothing happens”.
