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Olaf Scholz: Hard governance in hard times

2023-07-16 09:45:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The German chancellor explained his policy in Berlin, at a time when there are disagreements within the government coalition, which the citizens do not like.

The situation is not rosy for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The balance of the center-left coalition led by him, nearly two years after the parliamentary elections in September 2021, leaves much to be desired. Three out of four Germans are little or not at all satisfied with the work of the government led by the Social Democratic chancellor. The social democratic party, to which the chancellor belongs, has fallen to third place in the polls, after the Christian Democratic and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) and the right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD). The other two parties of the coalition, the Greens and the Liberals (FDP) have fallen in the polls.

Olaf Scholz - and how he sees the future

But the chancellor himself seems unimpressed: "I am at the beginning of my work as chancellor," he said on Friday, 15.07.2023, at a press conference with accredited correspondents, when asked about the upcoming elections in 2025 .Scholz is blessed with an unwavering self-confidence. "I am very confident that the AfD will not have better results than in the previous elections", he said, giving the advice that these results should be viewed "more calmly". This time, as always, Scholz said without changing his facial expression, because Scholz is always in control of both himself and his feelings.

The Social Democrat chancellor described the right-wing populists as a "spooky party" that takes advantage of crises. It is therefore important that the government implements its "modernisation programme". "All the innovations we want to start for our economy always convey the message that things will go well for every individual." And this will destroy the AfD's business model, the chancellor thinks.

Olaf Scholz – the omniscient

Unwavering and self-confident, this is the motto with which the 65-year-old lawyer has been doing politics for decades. Scholz often presents himself as a know-it-all – especially when asked questions. He leaves no doubt in his conviction that his policy is necessarily logical and therefore correct. If someone doesn't understand or contradicts him, he fires back: "Madame President, if I really tried to refute the whole list of incorrect remarks, I wouldn't have time," he said before the Bundestag's summer break in parliamentary interpellation.

Olaf Scholz in the Bundestag: Smiling as always. The German chancellor is in control of himself and his emotions.

In the SPD, this behavior is called sovereign, to others it seems arrogant. Scholz has a perfect way of not answering the question asked: He always speaks calmly, monotonously, slightly confused and like a robot. His critics have coined a name for this speaking style: Scholzomat, a portmanteau of the words Scholz and automaton. That this way of speaking has nothing to do with his type, the German chancellor showed with the fiery speech of the "historical turn" that he gave in the Bundestag after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

Tanks instead of wind turbines

The other two co-governing parties do not spoil Scholz's balance either. When he came to office, the coalition led by him promised to bring fundamental changes and advances in climate protection, digitalization and the rapid transformation of the economy.

The war in Ukraine shifted priorities. Instead of building 400,000 apartments a year and five wind turbines a day, the government puts 100 billion euros in special funds to modernize the German army, the Bundeswehr, and billions more to find alternatives to Russian gas and massively ease the financial burden for the citizens. The Bundeswehr will be further strengthened. In the long term, this amounts to two percent of Germany's gross income, as agreed by NATO partners.

Scholzen and scholzing

Germany's budget also feels the consequences of the war in Ukraine: In 2022 alone, over a million refugees came to Germany. Scholz said in Berlin that Germany provides "the greatest financial support, including the military aspect": "We have calculated that from the beginning of the war until 2027, it will be 17 billion euros that we will spend on supplying Ukraine with German-made or German-financed weapons."

"We support Ukraine so that it can defend itself," said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who met Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, at the NATO summit in Vilnius.

Initially, the chancellor was reluctant to supply Ukraine with weapons. The British historian Timothy Garton Ash called this reluctance "scholzing", which he says means a way of communicating good intentions, only to invent all sorts of reasons to delay and drag out their implementation. Even now, when he talks about Ukraine, Scholz does not say that Ukraine should win, but Ukraine should not lose. But basically, his position is now clear.

Germany and China: risk minimization without disengagement

Never before has a federal government faced so many such big problems at the same time, at home and abroad. The coalition presented a while ago, 13.07. and the strategy for China, with the help of which Germany will become less economically dependent on the expansionist Asian power. But German companies are skeptical. "This does not mean that the state will control every business done abroad", reassured the chancellor. "We just want to watch it more closely to react to projects that may be relevant to the security of the country."

Rivalry within the coalition

The center-left coalition spent its first year in office with stunning unity. But then the rivalries started: the SPD and the Greens are essentially left-wing parties that advocate a state that over-regulates and supports the socially disadvantaged. The liberal FDP wants as little state intervention as possible, especially in the economy, and demands the personal responsibility of each individual. These differences become more evident when the parties lose votes in the state elections. Each of them starts the fight for profiling: the Greens do not want to make compromises on climate and environmental protection issues, the FDP has its mind on the market and the interests of the economy.

The coalition fights: For the heating walls in Germany, for the ban on the use of gas or oil heating, for budget funds for basic financial security for children. The FDP insists that there will be no new debts after 2024, which can only be achieved through massive budget cuts. Raising taxes on the rich, as the Greens want, is out of the question for the Liberals.

In these disputes, the German Social Democratic chancellor often remains invisible and receives criticism from many sides.

Chancellor, not cowboy

But Scholzi remains who he is. I am not John Wayne, he said in an interview with the first German channel, ARD, alluding to the roles of the Hollywood actor in Western films. Politics doesn't work like that.

"We are a family of three parties and over 80 million citizens who each have an opinion on all matters of how we can win our future." An authoritarian father would not be a good method for a modern family. In his unwavering faith, however, the chancellor assumes the coalition will get back on track on its own. He has the impression that everyone has realized that there is a lot of work to be done and at the same time there is still a lot of work ahead. He said that the coalition parties should now make "less noise" and more work with quick results./ DW