The German Federal Audit Office (BRH) has delivered a scathing assessment of former Greens Economics Minister Robert Habeck over his handling of a €600 million loan to the Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt, which has since filed for bankruptcy.
In a classified 50-page report, the auditors accuse Habeck and his ministry of grave failures in risk assessment and oversight, warning that taxpayers could now face a total loss.
As reported by Bild, the 2023 state loan was intended to help Northvolt establish a major battery factory in Heide, Schleswig-Holstein, with support from additional German subsidies. But the BRH now alleges that Habeck’s ministry “systematically underestimated the risks” involved and approved the funding without sufficient scrutiny.
Earlier this year, Northvolt filed for bankruptcy, and the chances of German taxpayers recouping even a percentage of the funds handed over are slim to none.
The report highlights that the usual checks and balances were ignored. Instead, Habeck’s officials assessed the risks of the massive convertible bond unilaterally, without independent or interdepartmental review. The auditors accuse the ministry of acting “largely according to the principle of hope.”
Adding to the scandal, the BRH said that essential decision-making steps were poorly documented or not recorded at all, especially in video calls with the auditing firm PwC. This lack of documentation, it warned, means key actions “elude traceability and external control.” The report also noted that these omissions are particularly serious given the size and political sensitivity of the case.
Criticism from across the political spectrum is now piling up. CDU budget spokesman Andreas Mattfeldt said the revelations go beyond negligence: “One gets the impression that not only gross negligence is at play here. It seems that it was presumably intentional.” He called the affair “one of the major financial affairs of the republic” and warned of its explosive political potential.
The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), now the main opposition to the Grand Coalition government in the Bundestag, has called for a full parliamentary inquiry into the dealings.
“Habeck is said to have single-handedly approved €600 million of taxpayers’ money for Northvolt. Especially in view of the fact that the CDU continues Habeck’s policy identically, the citizens have a right to transparent clarification — so that such a scenario is not repeated!” she wrote on X.
Michael Espendiller, the budget spokesman of the AfD parliamentary group, added, “A committee of inquiry is unavoidable here, and we call on the Union to make this possible together with us.” The politician criticized “burning millions of euros of taxpayers’ money,” “conflicts of interest,” sloppy file management,” and state action “without adequate risk assessment.”
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