Germany's Habeck pitches spending cap reform to disillusioned voters

The new leader of Germany's Greens pitched his party on Sunday as the only one that could save Germany from years of stagnation under a renewed grand coalition and offered the conservative frontrunners cooperation on reforming a totemic spending cap. Robert Habeck, economy minister in Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government which collapsed 10 days ago, was anointed the party's candidate for the Feb. 23 election by 96% of delegates at the national congress in Wiesbaden. "We Greens want to carry on bearing responsibility," Habeck, a philosopher and novelist, said.