Scholz Seals Coalition Deal to Become Next German Chancellor

[left-of-center2012]

Olaf Scholz is set to succeed Angela Merkel as German chancellor after forging an unprecedented alliance that aims to revamp Europe’s largest economy by tackling climate change and promoting digital technologies. After nearly two months of intense negotiations, Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats said they will present their agreement with the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats on Wednesday. Details of the coalition deal will be published later, when Scholz and leaders from the other two parties will hold a news conference at 3 p.m. in the German capital. Scholz, a low-key pragmatist in Merkel’s mold, has years of experience as finance minister, mayor of Hamburg and an SPD heavyweight dating back to Gerhard Schroeder’s chancellorship.

After nearly two months of intense negotiations, Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats said they will present their agreement with the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats on Wednesday. Details of the coalition deal will be published later, when Scholz and leaders from the other two parties will hold a news conference at 3 p.m. in the German capital.

The deal seals the end of Merkel’s 16-year tenure. During her four terms as chancellor, she became one of the West’s most respected leaders but left the country’s industry exposed to threats from China and changing technologies.

The new government will put climate protection front and center, pushing for investment in new technologies and upgrading Germany’s aging infrastructure. The government plans to exit coal by 2030 -- eight years earlier than planned -- and accelerate the transition to electric vehicles. It’s also likely to become more assertive on the international stage.

Read more: https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/scholz-secures-german-chancellorship-after-forging-new-alliance

[Wounded Bear]

1. Europe needs a strong Germany to stand up to Putin...

and other autocrats in Eastern Europe.

[DFW]

2. And Germany needs a competent chancellor to stand up to the bureaucrat state (Beamtenstaat)

Scholz is not incompetent, but he IS a bureaucrat. Merkel's success was in good part because she was educated as a scientist. Scholz has had most of his career being a paid bureaucrat by the taxpayers. Merkel learned never to become a bureaucrat, and profited greatly from that. Scholz needs to learn (and quickly) how NOT to be a bureaucrat, or else the shine the sly Merkel gave Germany will quickly fade. We who live in Germany are all waiting to see what happens.

Luckily, it appears that Merkel's environmental legacy will survive no matter who is in power. It was just too popular to dismantle. The inclusion of the Free Democrats, although their leader, Lindner is a true snake, will probably put the brakes on excessive, unwieldy (and unconstitutional) tax increases, so with the SPD and Green input on environmental issues and the FDP input on the economic policy, only the gaping hole in foreign policy is left as a huge question mark. It could go down the tubes, as it did with Schröder taking Putin's money (officially and legally after he left office)--or it could maintain its even keel as now. Everyone was initially scared of German foreign policy when the last Green Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, took up his post, but he did an admirable job. So, Baerbock gets a pass until put to a test that will show definitively if she has what it takes.

The new government has a chance to do well, and has an equal chance to blow the position that Merkel has managed to acquire for Germany. Here, no one knows what to expect, and the mood seems divided between cautious optimism and resigned pessimism (this IS Europe, after all). Stay tuned for the next exciting (or boring) episode.........

[Wounded Bear]

3. Always appreciate your input on European affairs...

it is so nice to have a person that lives and works there to provide up-to-date and rational commentary.

With the Tangerine Terrorsist out of office, I hope Biden can repair some of the damage done to the Trans-Atlantic Coalition. It's a rough row to hoe, and we can't really blame Europeans for being a bit skeptical and worried about what happens post-Biden. Foreign policy pre-trump was at least fairly consistant from admin to admin. Trump threw that out the window, and once trust is broken it takes a lot to regain it.

[DFW]

4. The fact that there even WAS a Trump presidency rattled most of Europe

With the exception of a few of the former socialist states, most of Europe was horrified that a Trump presidency could occur at all in the USA. They are looking for solid assurances that something like that will never happen again. That is an assurance that we can’t give them with a straight face, and that makes EVERYBODY nervous.

[Wounded Bear]

5. Indeed! nt