Photo: REUTERS / copyright
He won Germany’s general election and now the man who has been Angela Merkel’s vice chancellor for three years has taken office.
The Bundestag, the German parliament, on Wednesday appointed Olaf Scholz as the new chancellor.
His formation, the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), will govern together to The Greens and the Free Democratic Party, in what has been baptized as the “semaphore government”, for the colors of the parties that are going to form it (red for the Social Democrats, green for the greens and yellow for the Liberal Democrats ).
The transfer of power marks the end of the political career of 31 years – 16 of them as Chancellor— of Merkel – who received a long standing ovation in the Bundestag.
Long political career
Scholz, from 63 years, he has been on the front lines of German politics for years , so it will hardly be a surprise to voters.
It is seen as a guarantee of stability and moderation , and in the September elections managed to lead the German left to a victory that had been resisting it for years.
“Chancellor Scholz is not known for his charisma or inspiring speeches. In fact, in her style, her attitude and even her policies, she bears an incredible resemblance to Angela Merkel, ”says the BBC’s correspondent in Germany, Jenny Hill.
He is married With his SPD partner Britta Ernst, he grew up in Hamburg and entered politics as a leader of the Socialist Youth, after having studied labor law.
He was mayor of Hamburg from 2018 to 2018 and first chosen for the Bundestag in 1998 .
From 2018 has been Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister in Merkel’s coalition government.
Her pragmatic handling of the crisis of the covid- 19 earned him a lot of praise and high approval ratings.
Pandemic Management
As Finance Minister, Olaf Scholz oversaw the emergency funding package of 750. 000 millions of euros ( US $ 884. 000 million) produced by the federal government to help German companies and workers survive the pandemic.
“We are putting all our weapons on the table to show that we are strong enough to overcome any economic challenge that this problem may pose, ”said Scholz.
He chaired cabinet meetings when Chancellor Merkel had to isolate herself as a precautionary measure.
Despite all the trouble from the pandemic, Scholz had a platform to manage a colossal amount of state benefits and fight for social cohesion, true to its roots of the left.
Before his candidacy for the post of chancellor was announced, when asked if he would run, he said: “we have to work, not let ourselves be carried away by vanities.”
With France, Scholz was also the architect of the recovery fund of the European Union.
However, his detractors question his record as Minister of Finance and accused of failing in two major financial scandals : Wirecard and cum-ex business fraud.
The collapse of the payments company Wirecard was the largest fraud scandal in Germany and a report this year said Scholz was responsible for the failure of the German regulator.
He was also embroiled in a cum-ex stock dividend scam because he was mayor of Hamburg when millions of euros were lost.
However, neither issue hurt him too much in the elections. Commenters suggested the scandals were too complex for voters to care.
Frustrations on the left
Within the ranks of the SPD, Olaf Scholz is seen as conservative . The party is co-led by Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans, who are further to the left.
In fact, he promised voters continuity after 16 years of government of the conservative Merkel.
The SPD was a junior partner in Merkel’s Coalition of Christian Democrats (CDU) for much of the past eight years and many party members complained that the policies agreed by the “grand coalition” were too conservative.
Now, Scholz will have to come to terms with his two coalition partners, led by younger politicians and whose forces together garnered more votes than the SPD, so the new chancellor will have to make concessions to his fellow travelers. and it will take a negotiating effort.
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