Against the backdrop of Angela Merkel’s soft-bodied and sometimes clumsy heir Armin Laschet, Olaf Scholz as the new chancellor seemed much more convincing to German voters
He did not allow ridiculous chuckles while visiting areas affected by the flood that fell on the election campaign in Germany. In his role as finance minister, Scholz only announced the government’s decision to allocate €200 million to the victims. For restraint in his statements and uninterrupted work, he received the title of Scholzomat. And despite the weak charisma, Olaf Scholz still eclipsed even the bright candidate for chancellor from the Greens Annalena Baerbock with experience.
In the parliamentary elections in September 2021, the SPD managed to overthrow the Christian Democrats, interrupting the 16-year history of Germany under Angela Merkel. Of course, this was influenced by the Frau’s personal desire to leave politics, but still, one should not belittle the merits of Scholz. Even in the last elections in 2017, the Social Democrats faced a severe crisis, receiving their lowest result in history (20.5%). Instead of ex-chairman Martin Schulz, Andrea Nahles and Olaf Scholz took over the party. One letter in the surname became crucial for the Social Democrats. And although the SPD outperformed the CDU/CSU by only 1.6% in 2021, it is now Merkel’s bloc that has its lowest score ever (24.1%). In a record 10 weeks, Scholz managed to negotiate with the Greens and Free Democrats (FDP) to form a coalition government.
On December 8, the traffic light coalition took the oath, and Scholz swore to fulfill the duty of chancellor.
The current head of the Cabinet joined the SPD at the age of 17 and experienced one of its main periods with the party – the chancellorship of Gerhard Schroeder just after 16 years of the Social Democrats in opposition. Scholz did not limit himself to a party career. In 2011, he became Mayor of Hamburg, and in 2018, Minister of Finance and Vice Chancellor.
Nevertheless, over 20 years in politics, Scholz will not turn into a charismatic official like the Prime Minister of Bavaria Markus Söder, but rather be known as a good supply manager who can restore order even in a pandemic. It was Scholz who distributed millions of euros to crisis funds during the lockdown. However, only after receiving the post of chancellor, Scholzomat misfired. In two months as head of government, the Social Democrat has not made a single striking statement, let alone action, practically turning Germany into an outsider in the international arena at a time when the world is going through one of the most serious crises between West and East. The German media immediately became full of headlines: “Germany is looking for a chancellor,” and the hashtag #woistscholz (“Where is Scholz?”) Was distributed on Twitter.
So far, the Social Democrat is enjoying what Angela Merkel left him as a legacy. Before retiring, during her farewell visit to Washington, the ex-chancellor managed to build bridges with a transatlantic partner after the era of Donald Trump. Merkel even managed to reach an agreement with Joe Biden on Nord Stream-2. Finally, the Frau Chancellor also visited Moscow, outlining the goals of cooperation and the “red lines” in Russian-German relations.
In general, Scholz also recognizes the economic value of the Nord Stream-2 project, in contrast to his “green” coalition colleagues. And at first he asked not to link the pipeline with the escalation around Ukraine. However, as soon as the FRG was asked for a little more decisiveness, the chancellor carefully repeated the statement of Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock that Berlin does not rule out measures against Nord Stream-2 in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
While the entire European Union is actively working to create a new package of preventive sanctions against Russia, Germany is trying to stay on the sidelines. As Bloomberg previously reported, Berlin fears repercussions for its own economy. And although during a meeting with Emmanuel Macron on January 25, Scholz said that the West would react harshly to encroachments on the territorial integrity of Ukraine, Germany has already been called an “unreliable partner” of the United States. According to Der Spiegel, the German ambassador to the States, Emily Haber, sent a confidential letter to her native Foreign Office, beginning with the words: “Berlin, we have a problem.”
Indicative for Washington was the decision of the German side to refuse to supply weapons to Kiev. Thus, Germany has already banned its NATO ally Estonia from supplying Ukraine with those weapons that are of German origin. And while the West is engaged in the militarization of Ukraine, Germany is giving Kiev 5,000 helmets, causing disapproval of the allies. Unlike Macron, who has had several phone calls with Vladimir Putin, and Boris Johnson, who has visited Kiev, Scholz has so far made only vague and barely audible statements. They even joke on Twitter:
“Someone should tell Olaf Scholz to turn up the sound.”
Of course, one does not expect Willy Brandt’s “new oriental policy” or friendship with Vladimir Putin, like Gerhard Schroeder had. However, the Germans already clearly miss the outwardly confident chancellor. Because of accusations of meekness before Moscow, the leading politicians of the SPD even had to meet specially on January 31 to outline the party’s clear position towards the Russian Federation. The new leader of the Social Democrats, Lars Klingbeil, said the party is confident that the aggression comes from the Russian Federation.
In domestic politics, Scholz has not yet gained the authority of an effective manager. Even last year, his initiative to introduce mandatory vaccination in February-March has not yet passed the voting procedure in the Bundestag. Meanwhile, in Germany, an increase of more than 100 thousand cases per day is recorded. The situation is aggravated by the lack of PCR tests. According to the latest poll by the Forsa Research Institute, the SPD again lags behind the CDU/CSU for the first time since the elections – 23% to 27%. And Scholz, according to a poll by the ZDF TV channel about the most popular politicians in Germany, loses to Angela Merkel and German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach.
On the other hand, the trial period of 100 days, after which, according to tradition, one should judge the work of the new government, has not yet expired. In the coming weeks, Scholz will finally pass his main test and show if he can keep Germany in the thick of world events. On February 7, he will meet in Washington with Biden. On February 14, the chancellor will leave for Kiev, and a day later he will pay a visit to Moscow. In Russia, Scholz will have to discuss not only Ukraine, but also the scandal between Moscow and Berlin with the mutual blocking of RT DE and DW. Whether the silent politician will be able to return the opportunity to work to journalists, as well as maintain the dialogue with Moscow that was debugged under Merkel, while remaining the flagship of the European Union, is still unclear.
Scholz’s Hamburg office is said to still have a printout:
“We will never be offended, we will never be hysterical.”
Perhaps Germany should get used to a new type of head of government – even more calm than Merkel. However, so far the restraint of the chancellor of Europe’s strongest economy does not play into the hands of Germany. The world does not understand how to perceive Germany today.
Maria Vasilyeva, Izvestia newspaper