Olaf Scholz will become chancellor of Germany on Wednesday, turning the page on 16 years with Angela Merkel at the helm as a new centre-left-led coalition takes the wheel of Europe’s top economy.
Scholz, who will be formally elected by the Bundestag lower house of parliament and then sworn in by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has pledged broad “continuity” with the popular Merkel while making Germany greener and fairer.
The finance minister under Merkel led his Social Democrats to victory in the September 26 election — an outcome considered unthinkable at the start of the year given the party’s then festering divisions and anaemic support. Merkel, 67, Germany’s first woman chancellor, is retiring from politics after four consecutive terms, the first post-war leader to step aside of her own accord.
She leaves big shoes to fill, with large majorities of Germans approving of her leadership, even if her own party, the conservative Christian Democrats, often bridled against her moderate course. For 16 years, Angela Merkel defined the political centre,” columnist Nikolas Blome said.
“If she were running again, she would win a fifth term,” he added, saying it was nevertheless time for new blood. Despite being from a rival party, Scholz tapped into that well of popular support in his bid to succeed her.
The left-leaning daily Tageszeitung recently joked about the similarities between the two politicians on its front page, with the pandemic-era headline “Merkel Variant Prevails” and a picture of a grinning Scholz. Her successor has however pledged to tackle the widening gap between rich and poor under Merkel.
The independent Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) said in an analysis of the coalition pact that lower-income Germans and parents stood to gain the most from its policy roadmap. Meanwhile Greens supporters are banking on billions flowing toward climate protection and renewable energy, even as the government pledges to return to a no-new-debt rule by 2023.
Source: France
In other news – VIDEO: Woman heavily beaten up by her ex-boyfriend after arriving at work
A woman has been badly beaten, allegedly by her ex-lover, after he followed her to her place of work recently.
Palesa Mothokwa arrived at work on Tuesday, with her ex – whom she had been in a relationship with for over a year but had recently broken up with – following close behind. Learn more
