International criticism of the €200 billion package Germany has put together to fight high energy prices was heard again yesterday at the meeting of EU finance ministers in Luxembourg. There is talk of Germany going it alone, and calls for joint instruments are growing louder. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Chancellor Olaf Scholz have rejected the criticism, saying they do not believe the time has come for new debt instruments, as my colleagues write in their analysis.
Prime Minister Liz Truss is facing quite different criticism in the United Kingdom. The Brexit hardliner and her party are falling further and further behind in the polls, and the Conservatives are rumbling. The question arises as to whether Truss will continue to stand firm on the issue of the Northern Ireland Protocol or approach the EU. On Friday, she will take a step toward Europe – she will travel to Prague for a first meeting of the European Political Community.
Surprise turn in the evening: After months of wrangling, Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter could go through after all. Shortly before a court case, the Tesla boss surprisingly backs down and renews his offer – at the originally agreed purchase price of $54.20 per share. The reasons for Musk’s U-turn remained unclear for the time being.
Even as a teenager, he had already taken a liking to hydrogen. Today, the German-Greek Jorgo “Chatzi” Chatzimarkakis heads the Hydrogen Europe association in Brussels and lobbies for the energy carrier wherever he can. Markus Grabitz presents a profile of Chatzimarkakis.
The German gas price break triggers covetousness at the EU level. Several member states and parts of the EU Commission are calling for a new debt-financed aid program for all 27 member states along the lines of the Recovery Fund RRF.
It is unacceptable for Germany to spend up to €200 billion to fight high energy prices while other states are unable to keep up, they said at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Luxembourg on Tuesday. “If we want to avoid fragmentation, if we want to face this crisis, I think we need a higher level of solidarity, and we need to put in place (…) common tools”, said Economic Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni.
German Finance Minister Christian Lindner rejected the move. The EU cannot transfer the pandemic instruments “one-to-one” to today’s situation, the FDP politician said on the sidelines of the Ecofin meeting in Luxembourg. “This crisis is very different from the Covid pandemic,” he said.
Lindner rejected criticism of the German “defensive umbrella.” “Our measure is target-oriented and covers 2022, 2023, and 2024.” He said it is also proportionate to Germany’s economic power. “It is proportional if you look at the size and vulnerability of the German economy.”
From the perspective of other EU countries such as Italy, Hungary and Greece, however, Germany is going it alone, creating an imbalance in the EU. The outgoing Italian Head of Government Mario Draghi warned of “dangerous and unjustified distortions of the internal market” if EU countries overbid each other with their relief packages. The discussion is also likely to occupy the informal EU summit on Friday.
In Berlin government circles, the demands of Gentiloni and Co. are viewed as an attempt to prepare the ground for new EU financial instruments. However, there is currently little willingness to do so, especially since the upcoming change of government in Rome raises new questions: According to Berlin, the right-wing alliance around Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia party must first clarify its relationship with the EU.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz parried the demands yesterday by pointing out that a large part of the funds from the Covid reconstruction pot had not yet been used. He said it was fortunate that the funds were now available in the new crisis. These must now be “the focus of all activities,” Scholz said at a press conference with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Rutte took the same line, saying that there were still plenty of funds available in the regular EU cohesion funds and that he was therefore “very restrained” to talk about new pots.
However, the SPD politician is not fundamentally opposed to new instruments financed by EU debt, but he does not think the time is right. During his speech on Europe in Prague, the chancellor hinted at being open to a new edition of the SURE short-time working allowance program. “We are open to a discussion on new financing instruments at the EU level,” said Christian Petry, European Policy Spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group. The FDP, however, refused this so far: The Liberals have always stressed that programs like RRF were the answer to an extraordinary crisis.
Scholz and Rutte are also clearly opposed to a gas price cap at the EU level, as demanded by 15 member states. He was concerned that “gas would no longer reach us,” Rutte said.
Scholz stressed that the high gas prices must drop – the relationship between supply and demand did not justify them. However, the chancellor is counting on negotiations with important supplier countries such as Norway and the US, whose companies benefit enormously. The willingness to cooperate there is “quite high,” he said. Berlin sees the threat of an EU gas price cap as leverage for talks, especially with Oslo.
In addition, the chancellor is pushing for the expansion of necessary infrastructure. From the German government’s point of view, bottlenecks at LNG terminals and transport pipelines to the EU’s interior are another price driver, especially in Germany and Central Eastern Europe. For this reason, Germany intends to commission its own terminals in the short term and is counting on the MidCat pipeline between France and Spain in the medium term, where seven LNG terminals are already in operation.
So far, the Federal Republic has not mobilized more funds for the energy crisis than other EU countries. Measured in terms of economic output, it has been around 2.8 percent of economic output since September 2021. In absolute terms, that equated to €100 billion more than any other member state, but relative to GDP, other countries have given comparable aid: Spain 2.9 percent, Italy 3.3 percent, and Croatia as much as 4.1 percent, according to an overview by Bruegel.
Given the price increase, the French government, for example, decided to extend the price cap beyond December 31. As Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne explained, an increase in gas and electricity bills will be limited to 15 percent. The gross cost to the government is estimated at €45 billion, including €11 billion for gas and €34 billion for electricity.
Looking ahead, observers believe it is far from certain that Germany will actually spend the €200 billion. In the early months of the Covid crisis, the German government also promised an immensely high credit line, only three percent of which has been used, says Daniel Gros of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). “I think, in the end, Germany will not spend more than others in the energy crisis, and I think it will be spent more wisely.”
It is reasonable to tie subsidies to conditions on energy savings, says Gros, but he calls for a distinction between households and businesses. “If Germany supports all industry and subsidizes three-quarters of the previous year’s electricity and gas needs, that will be more than other countries do.” Gros believes German industry, in particular, is sufficiently financed to absorb temporary losses: “The Commission should intervene, and the competition for state aid should be stopped, it’s money wasted.”
In the European Parliament, the debate met with a divided response. CDU financial expert Markus Ferber expressed understanding of the concerns of EU partner countries. “What the traffic light coalition is doing has caused considerable irritation among European partners.” Given the upcoming debate on the future of the Stability Pact, he said, a €200 billion shadow budget would be quite a fatal signal. “This step will also be seen as a precedent in Europe and does a disservice to the stability-oriented camp.”
Joachim Schuster, an SPD member of parliament, argues for a permanent investment mechanism with a volume of about one percent of Europe’s economic power. The Reconstruction Fund and its core RRF could serve as a model, he said. “We urgently need further coordinated and joint programs to prevent more economic drifting apart within the EU,” said Rasmus Andresen, spokesman for the German Greens. Manuel Berkel, Eric Bonse, Till Hoppe, Claire Stam
After a disastrous economic package that spooked international markets, the opposition Labour Party is now 33 points ahead of Truss’s Conservatives, according to a poll. According to pollster YouGov, it was 15 points at the beginning of the month. Parts of her own party are in turmoil.
In Brussels, observers like Fabian Zuleeg, Chief Economist and Chairman of the European Policy Center, hope this domestic weakening means a softening of her hard Brexit course. The last thing the UK needs is more problems with the EU, he tells Europe.Table.
As Foreign Minister under her former boss, Boris Johnson, Truss was an architect of the Northern Ireland Protocol bill, which would override parts of the UK-European agreement on trade rules for the territory. The EU believes this violates international law. The bill has been approved by the House of Commons but must still be approved by the House of Lords.
After the past few weeks, Zuleeg sees the first signs of mitigation. “On the one hand, we see that talks (between the EU and the UK on the protocol) are resuming,” he said. An EU proposal has long been on the table, he said. But it has been effectively ignored by the British side.
“On the other hand, the tone has changed,” he said. Zuleeg pointed to an apology from Conservative MP and Northern Ireland Secretary Steve Baker to the EU and Ireland for his behavior in the Brexit negotiations. But, of course, these signs are still far from a concrete change, he stressed.
Despite earlier assertions that she was not interested, Truss will travel to Prague this week to meet up to 44 EU and non-EU countries. The European Political Community talks, proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron this year, will focus on security, energy, and migration.
However, the Prague meeting is taking place against the backdrop of the escalation in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin most recently annexed four more territories of Ukraine, and western concerns about a possible nuclear threat are growing. Cooperation in international politics is often seen as a glimmer of hope for EU-UK relations after Brexit. Coordinated sanctions against Russia, for example, show that the two partners can continue to work together constructively.
“The UK is an important political partner in the United Nations, G7, G20, OSCE as well as a loyal NATO ally,” German MEP David McAllister wrote Europe.Table in an email. “Naturally, the British Prime Minister is invited to this meeting, and it is good that she is going to Prague.”
Despite the planned joint appearances in Prague, the Northern Ireland issue remains the biggest obstacle in relations between London and Brussels. For McAllister and Zuleeg, the easiest, though not necessarily the most likely, way to improve ties remains the withdrawal of the British Northern Ireland Act.
Zuleeg said the British side could potentially quietly shelve the bill if it does not pass the House of Lords. However, a public withdrawal would be politically very difficult. But a tougher stance toward the EU would also be possible. “The bottom line is that it’s a highly political question because it’s about the extent to which Liz Truss has support in her own party,” he says. Her political weakening could make her even more dependent on Euroskeptics in her group.
For now, looking into the crystal ball is impossible. But how about a bit of schadenfreude toward London? “I wish every government in London to act for the good of the people,” wrote McAllister, an outspoken Brexit opponent. “Brexit is and remains a historic mistake.”
If there is a common thread in the life of Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, it is hydrogen. The day Boris Becker reached the final of Wimbledon for the first time and won, he watched the TV with one eye only. Instead, he read Hoimar von Ditfurth’s “In the Beginning, there was Hydrogen” with fascination. The teenager discovered the book by chance on a rummage table in his hometown of Duisburg.
Like many young people in the 1980s, his political socialization took place under the impression of the ecological threat. He began his studies in Bonn in the year of the Chornobyl reactor catastrophe in 1986. “At university was a wallpaper from the ÖDP inscribed: Let’s make hydrogen from solar energy.”
Almost four decades later, the 56-year-old is Head of Hydrogen Europe in Brussels, the European hydrogen association, and thus the most important hydrogen lobbyist at the EU level. Before becoming a lobbyist, Chatzimarkakis – the son of a Cretan guest worker and a mother with roots in Brandenburg – had already achieved two political careers. In his first life, he was an FDP member.
From 1995 to 2011, he was a member of the federal executive committee of the Liberals. For many years, “Chatzi” was a popular interlocutor for the Berlin capital’s journal. Before the federal party conferences of the FDP, where Guido Westerwelle and Jürgen W. Möllemann fought fierce duels, Chatzimarkakis dictated many a trenchant quote and many a steep thesis into the blocks. In 2004, the now 56-year-old entered the European Parliament for the FDP, and in 2009 he was re-elected. In 2007, Chatzimarkakis made headlines with his suggestion the Greens and the FDP should merge. For many, this was a far-fetched idea. The two parties’ lifestyles and milieus seemed light years apart; from Chatzimarkakis’ perspective, the proposal was coherent.
Then came the break with his FDP in 2014. He resigned in a clinch and protest against his party’s European policy. Things were not going well for him in other respects, either. Plagiarism hunters had become aware of his doctoral thesis. He lost his title. He defended himself in court. To this day, he claims that he noted every citation in the footnotes. But he neglected to indicate this with quotation marks in the text.
Others might have looked for a job in business. Not so Chatzimarkakis. He is reinventing himself. He is trying to launch a political career from Greek soil. His father’s homeland was reeling from the sovereign debt crisis. It was in danger of being expelled from the euro. Chatzimarkakis founded the “Hellenic European Citizens” party in Greece. In 2014, he also stood for the party in the European elections but failed to make it into parliament. For a time, he was Greece’s special ambassador.
In 2015, he begins his third career in Brussels as a hydrogen lobbyist. It starts as a one-man show. In the meantime, Hydrogen Europe has grown up. 40 employees now work for his association, which is something of a hydrogen BDI in Brussels. In addition, there are ten external consultants. It currently resides in Brussels, not far from the fine boutiques of Louise. Chatzimarkakis is the CEO of an association that has 420 members across Europe. And he wants to grow even further. “They say we have a freeze on admissions. I can deny that.”
From the very beginning, Chatzimarkakis has been following attempts to build a hydrogen economy in Europe. “In 2018, it started at the EU level with the Council’s hydrogen declaration,” he recalls. He lobbies the EU institutions. That he is a lobbyist is not something he likes to hear. “I see myself more as a German shepherd.” Excuse me? The shepherds, he says, are Frans Timmermans, the Vice President of the Commission, and the other politicians who set the regulatory framework. He is the shepherd dog who shows the sheep – in his understanding, that means the industry and the member states – the right direction.
Chatzimarkakis is passionate about his subject. That was already the case when he took on the FDP party leadership 20 years ago. And it’s no different today. He fears that Europe is currently sleeping through the development of the hydrogen economy. He says things develop in the US, China, and India. “And there are people in the EU Commission who are putting on the brakes. They think there is a danger that hydrogen will cannibalize green electricity.”
He does not want to know anything about the competition between green electricity and hydrogen. The other day, he gave a speech in India. It was at the first EU-India Hydrogen Forum. In the presence of EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson, he repeatedly complimented the responsible minister from India: In India, they understood better than at the headquarters of the EU Commission what needed to be done to ramp up the technology. The Indian audience is enthusiastic, the Commissioner kept her composure. Chatzimarkakis has not only posted his performance on YouTube. He also likes to talk about it. Whether you’re a politician or a lobbyist, you have to be a good salesman. Markus Grabitz
International criticism of the €200 billion package Germany has put together to fight high energy prices was heard again yesterday at the meeting of EU finance ministers in Luxembourg. There is talk of Germany going it alone, and calls for joint instruments are growing louder. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Chancellor Olaf Scholz have rejected the criticism, saying they do not believe the time has come for new debt instruments, as my colleagues write in their analysis.
Prime Minister Liz Truss is facing quite different criticism in the United Kingdom. The Brexit hardliner and her party are falling further and further behind in the polls, and the Conservatives are rumbling. The question arises as to whether Truss will continue to stand firm on the issue of the Northern Ireland Protocol or approach the EU. On Friday, she will take a step toward Europe – she will travel to Prague for a first meeting of the European Political Community.
Surprise turn in the evening: After months of wrangling, Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter could go through after all. Shortly before a court case, the Tesla boss surprisingly backs down and renews his offer – at the originally agreed purchase price of $54.20 per share. The reasons for Musk’s U-turn remained unclear for the time being.
Even as a teenager, he had already taken a liking to hydrogen. Today, the German-Greek Jorgo “Chatzi” Chatzimarkakis heads the Hydrogen Europe association in Brussels and lobbies for the energy carrier wherever he can. Markus Grabitz presents a profile of Chatzimarkakis.
The German gas price break triggers covetousness at the EU level. Several member states and parts of the EU Commission are calling for a new debt-financed aid program for all 27 member states along the lines of the Recovery Fund RRF.
It is unacceptable for Germany to spend up to €200 billion to fight high energy prices while other states are unable to keep up, they said at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Luxembourg on Tuesday. “If we want to avoid fragmentation, if we want to face this crisis, I think we need a higher level of solidarity, and we need to put in place (…) common tools”, said Economic Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni.
German Finance Minister Christian Lindner rejected the move. The EU cannot transfer the pandemic instruments “one-to-one” to today’s situation, the FDP politician said on the sidelines of the Ecofin meeting in Luxembourg. “This crisis is very different from the Covid pandemic,” he said.
Lindner rejected criticism of the German “defensive umbrella.” “Our measure is target-oriented and covers 2022, 2023, and 2024.” He said it is also proportionate to Germany’s economic power. “It is proportional if you look at the size and vulnerability of the German economy.”
From the perspective of other EU countries such as Italy, Hungary and Greece, however, Germany is going it alone, creating an imbalance in the EU. The outgoing Italian Head of Government Mario Draghi warned of “dangerous and unjustified distortions of the internal market” if EU countries overbid each other with their relief packages. The discussion is also likely to occupy the informal EU summit on Friday.
In Berlin government circles, the demands of Gentiloni and Co. are viewed as an attempt to prepare the ground for new EU financial instruments. However, there is currently little willingness to do so, especially since the upcoming change of government in Rome raises new questions: According to Berlin, the right-wing alliance around Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia party must first clarify its relationship with the EU.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz parried the demands yesterday by pointing out that a large part of the funds from the Covid reconstruction pot had not yet been used. He said it was fortunate that the funds were now available in the new crisis. These must now be “the focus of all activities,” Scholz said at a press conference with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Rutte took the same line, saying that there were still plenty of funds available in the regular EU cohesion funds and that he was therefore “very restrained” to talk about new pots.
However, the SPD politician is not fundamentally opposed to new instruments financed by EU debt, but he does not think the time is right. During his speech on Europe in Prague, the chancellor hinted at being open to a new edition of the SURE short-time working allowance program. “We are open to a discussion on new financing instruments at the EU level,” said Christian Petry, European Policy Spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group. The FDP, however, refused this so far: The Liberals have always stressed that programs like RRF were the answer to an extraordinary crisis.
Scholz and Rutte are also clearly opposed to a gas price cap at the EU level, as demanded by 15 member states. He was concerned that “gas would no longer reach us,” Rutte said.
Scholz stressed that the high gas prices must drop – the relationship between supply and demand did not justify them. However, the chancellor is counting on negotiations with important supplier countries such as Norway and the US, whose companies benefit enormously. The willingness to cooperate there is “quite high,” he said. Berlin sees the threat of an EU gas price cap as leverage for talks, especially with Oslo.
In addition, the chancellor is pushing for the expansion of necessary infrastructure. From the German government’s point of view, bottlenecks at LNG terminals and transport pipelines to the EU’s interior are another price driver, especially in Germany and Central Eastern Europe. For this reason, Germany intends to commission its own terminals in the short term and is counting on the MidCat pipeline between France and Spain in the medium term, where seven LNG terminals are already in operation.
So far, the Federal Republic has not mobilized more funds for the energy crisis than other EU countries. Measured in terms of economic output, it has been around 2.8 percent of economic output since September 2021. In absolute terms, that equated to €100 billion more than any other member state, but relative to GDP, other countries have given comparable aid: Spain 2.9 percent, Italy 3.3 percent, and Croatia as much as 4.1 percent, according to an overview by Bruegel.
Given the price increase, the French government, for example, decided to extend the price cap beyond December 31. As Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne explained, an increase in gas and electricity bills will be limited to 15 percent. The gross cost to the government is estimated at €45 billion, including €11 billion for gas and €34 billion for electricity.
Looking ahead, observers believe it is far from certain that Germany will actually spend the €200 billion. In the early months of the Covid crisis, the German government also promised an immensely high credit line, only three percent of which has been used, says Daniel Gros of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). “I think, in the end, Germany will not spend more than others in the energy crisis, and I think it will be spent more wisely.”
It is reasonable to tie subsidies to conditions on energy savings, says Gros, but he calls for a distinction between households and businesses. “If Germany supports all industry and subsidizes three-quarters of the previous year’s electricity and gas needs, that will be more than other countries do.” Gros believes German industry, in particular, is sufficiently financed to absorb temporary losses: “The Commission should intervene, and the competition for state aid should be stopped, it’s money wasted.”
In the European Parliament, the debate met with a divided response. CDU financial expert Markus Ferber expressed understanding of the concerns of EU partner countries. “What the traffic light coalition is doing has caused considerable irritation among European partners.” Given the upcoming debate on the future of the Stability Pact, he said, a €200 billion shadow budget would be quite a fatal signal. “This step will also be seen as a precedent in Europe and does a disservice to the stability-oriented camp.”
Joachim Schuster, an SPD member of parliament, argues for a permanent investment mechanism with a volume of about one percent of Europe’s economic power. The Reconstruction Fund and its core RRF could serve as a model, he said. “We urgently need further coordinated and joint programs to prevent more economic drifting apart within the EU,” said Rasmus Andresen, spokesman for the German Greens. Manuel Berkel, Eric Bonse, Till Hoppe, Claire Stam
After a disastrous economic package that spooked international markets, the opposition Labour Party is now 33 points ahead of Truss’s Conservatives, according to a poll. According to pollster YouGov, it was 15 points at the beginning of the month. Parts of her own party are in turmoil.
In Brussels, observers like Fabian Zuleeg, Chief Economist and Chairman of the European Policy Center, hope this domestic weakening means a softening of her hard Brexit course. The last thing the UK needs is more problems with the EU, he tells Europe.Table.
As Foreign Minister under her former boss, Boris Johnson, Truss was an architect of the Northern Ireland Protocol bill, which would override parts of the UK-European agreement on trade rules for the territory. The EU believes this violates international law. The bill has been approved by the House of Commons but must still be approved by the House of Lords.
After the past few weeks, Zuleeg sees the first signs of mitigation. “On the one hand, we see that talks (between the EU and the UK on the protocol) are resuming,” he said. An EU proposal has long been on the table, he said. But it has been effectively ignored by the British side.
“On the other hand, the tone has changed,” he said. Zuleeg pointed to an apology from Conservative MP and Northern Ireland Secretary Steve Baker to the EU and Ireland for his behavior in the Brexit negotiations. But, of course, these signs are still far from a concrete change, he stressed.
Despite earlier assertions that she was not interested, Truss will travel to Prague this week to meet up to 44 EU and non-EU countries. The European Political Community talks, proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron this year, will focus on security, energy, and migration.
However, the Prague meeting is taking place against the backdrop of the escalation in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin most recently annexed four more territories of Ukraine, and western concerns about a possible nuclear threat are growing. Cooperation in international politics is often seen as a glimmer of hope for EU-UK relations after Brexit. Coordinated sanctions against Russia, for example, show that the two partners can continue to work together constructively.
“The UK is an important political partner in the United Nations, G7, G20, OSCE as well as a loyal NATO ally,” German MEP David McAllister wrote Europe.Table in an email. “Naturally, the British Prime Minister is invited to this meeting, and it is good that she is going to Prague.”
Despite the planned joint appearances in Prague, the Northern Ireland issue remains the biggest obstacle in relations between London and Brussels. For McAllister and Zuleeg, the easiest, though not necessarily the most likely, way to improve ties remains the withdrawal of the British Northern Ireland Act.
Zuleeg said the British side could potentially quietly shelve the bill if it does not pass the House of Lords. However, a public withdrawal would be politically very difficult. But a tougher stance toward the EU would also be possible. “The bottom line is that it’s a highly political question because it’s about the extent to which Liz Truss has support in her own party,” he says. Her political weakening could make her even more dependent on Euroskeptics in her group.
For now, looking into the crystal ball is impossible. But how about a bit of schadenfreude toward London? “I wish every government in London to act for the good of the people,” wrote McAllister, an outspoken Brexit opponent. “Brexit is and remains a historic mistake.”
If there is a common thread in the life of Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, it is hydrogen. The day Boris Becker reached the final of Wimbledon for the first time and won, he watched the TV with one eye only. Instead, he read Hoimar von Ditfurth’s “In the Beginning, there was Hydrogen” with fascination. The teenager discovered the book by chance on a rummage table in his hometown of Duisburg.
Like many young people in the 1980s, his political socialization took place under the impression of the ecological threat. He began his studies in Bonn in the year of the Chornobyl reactor catastrophe in 1986. “At university was a wallpaper from the ÖDP inscribed: Let’s make hydrogen from solar energy.”
Almost four decades later, the 56-year-old is Head of Hydrogen Europe in Brussels, the European hydrogen association, and thus the most important hydrogen lobbyist at the EU level. Before becoming a lobbyist, Chatzimarkakis – the son of a Cretan guest worker and a mother with roots in Brandenburg – had already achieved two political careers. In his first life, he was an FDP member.
From 1995 to 2011, he was a member of the federal executive committee of the Liberals. For many years, “Chatzi” was a popular interlocutor for the Berlin capital’s journal. Before the federal party conferences of the FDP, where Guido Westerwelle and Jürgen W. Möllemann fought fierce duels, Chatzimarkakis dictated many a trenchant quote and many a steep thesis into the blocks. In 2004, the now 56-year-old entered the European Parliament for the FDP, and in 2009 he was re-elected. In 2007, Chatzimarkakis made headlines with his suggestion the Greens and the FDP should merge. For many, this was a far-fetched idea. The two parties’ lifestyles and milieus seemed light years apart; from Chatzimarkakis’ perspective, the proposal was coherent.
Then came the break with his FDP in 2014. He resigned in a clinch and protest against his party’s European policy. Things were not going well for him in other respects, either. Plagiarism hunters had become aware of his doctoral thesis. He lost his title. He defended himself in court. To this day, he claims that he noted every citation in the footnotes. But he neglected to indicate this with quotation marks in the text.
Others might have looked for a job in business. Not so Chatzimarkakis. He is reinventing himself. He is trying to launch a political career from Greek soil. His father’s homeland was reeling from the sovereign debt crisis. It was in danger of being expelled from the euro. Chatzimarkakis founded the “Hellenic European Citizens” party in Greece. In 2014, he also stood for the party in the European elections but failed to make it into parliament. For a time, he was Greece’s special ambassador.
In 2015, he begins his third career in Brussels as a hydrogen lobbyist. It starts as a one-man show. In the meantime, Hydrogen Europe has grown up. 40 employees now work for his association, which is something of a hydrogen BDI in Brussels. In addition, there are ten external consultants. It currently resides in Brussels, not far from the fine boutiques of Louise. Chatzimarkakis is the CEO of an association that has 420 members across Europe. And he wants to grow even further. “They say we have a freeze on admissions. I can deny that.”
From the very beginning, Chatzimarkakis has been following attempts to build a hydrogen economy in Europe. “In 2018, it started at the EU level with the Council’s hydrogen declaration,” he recalls. He lobbies the EU institutions. That he is a lobbyist is not something he likes to hear. “I see myself more as a German shepherd.” Excuse me? The shepherds, he says, are Frans Timmermans, the Vice President of the Commission, and the other politicians who set the regulatory framework. He is the shepherd dog who shows the sheep – in his understanding, that means the industry and the member states – the right direction.
Chatzimarkakis is passionate about his subject. That was already the case when he took on the FDP party leadership 20 years ago. And it’s no different today. He fears that Europe is currently sleeping through the development of the hydrogen economy. He says things develop in the US, China, and India. “And there are people in the EU Commission who are putting on the brakes. They think there is a danger that hydrogen will cannibalize green electricity.”
He does not want to know anything about the competition between green electricity and hydrogen. The other day, he gave a speech in India. It was at the first EU-India Hydrogen Forum. In the presence of EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson, he repeatedly complimented the responsible minister from India: In India, they understood better than at the headquarters of the EU Commission what needed to be done to ramp up the technology. The Indian audience is enthusiastic, the Commissioner kept her composure. Chatzimarkakis has not only posted his performance on YouTube. He also likes to talk about it. Whether you’re a politician or a lobbyist, you have to be a good salesman. Markus Grabitz
