Expectations of Olaf Scholz as Federal Chancellor

“I said ‘yes’”, Olaf Scholz tweeted shortly after his election as Federal Chancellor by the members of the Bundestag. In a nutshell. A 16-year era also ended on Wednesday: that of the now former Chancellor Angela Merkel.

For some Handelsblatt readers, however, there is no reason to celebrate: “Nothing world-changing should be expected from the new Federal Chancellor,” says one reader. After all, Scholz is a colorless and harmless technocrat. Similar drastic statements can be found again and again in the letters from readers on the question of what they expect from the new Federal Chancellor. One reader wrote: “A chancellor who ultimately becomes a chancellor by keeping quiet and copying his predecessor cannot become a good chancellor.”

And as another reader notes: “Scholz is following in big footsteps”, and therefore adds: “But he deserves a fair chance.” In view of the many challenges that await the new government in the future, one or the other also sees it Readers change as an opportunity. A young student writes, for example, that he perceives the new traffic light government as both a new beginning and a radical change.

We have compiled the most interesting articles for you from numerous e-mails, comments and messages on the wishes and fears about Olaf Scholz as the new Federal Chancellor.

A harmless technocrat

“Nothing world-changing can be expected from the new Federal Chancellor. You are who you are: a colorless and harmless technocrat. He will continue on the path of his predecessor, noiselessly and consistently. Moderation instead of management, business as usual instead of a fresh start. Those who hope that we will see the long overdue breakthroughs in pensions, controlled immigration, digitization, bureaucracy reduction and educational reform will be disappointed. Quite apart from the completely alien dreams of an emission-free transport and energy transition. But Germany will also survive these four lost four years under Olaf Merkel. “

Oliver Dange

In the vague and noncommittal

“Olaf Scholz will continue to behave more or less noiselessly according to his mentality, linger in the vague and noncommittal in order to avoid an otherwise quickly burgeoning SPD internal rebellion and to act according to the motto ‘We will do it, and I will do it well’. It remains to be seen how his cabinet can make friends with this “leadership style” because it must now mean for every member of the government to show their colors, to distinguish themselves and to position themselves. The supposed personal surprises in the cabinet are certainly no guarantee for Scholz’s necessary new leadership style and expression of his understanding of power. “

Lutz Zietzsch

A traffic light boat with Captain Olaf

“From German shores set off for the regatta: a traffic light boat with Captain Olaf in front, tricolor with victory course in the middle. Left and right gradients balanced in the course feed. A black boat, something is still floating in the fog, Captain Friedrich, probably, the crew in new clothes. Course undetermined, still in the fairway of the traffic light boat Centro sinistro, but initially deviating slightly to the right, falling back. Captain Olaf occasionally stayed in the background. He rejected left-wing pirates as guides. Occasionally overshadowed by alternating helmsmen Robert and Christian with their legs apart, he will demonstrate sovereign power of command under changing wind in rough seas. He has already appointed the first adjutant. If daring mutiny threatens from the engine room, Mützenich takes it on his head. Where is the far back black boat? Pressed in vain from a brownish to a right drift into shallows, it continues its course with desperate equanimity. The traffic light boat, which will soon be in open international waters – where super-powerful tankers are almost on a collision course – crosses a sea of ​​dangerous places of climatic turbulence, migration, debt swamps. Hopefully it won’t get stranded? Everything will be fine.”

Uli Stegent

FDP as a regulating element

“A chancellor who ultimately becomes chancellor by silence and copying of his predecessor cannot become a good chancellor. Especially in a time of change and essential course setting, it is difficult to see a Chancellor who has to rule with a base that has slipped to the left and the Greens slid to the left. The FDP as a regulating element becomes elementary in this constellation. We mustn’t forget the scandals like Wirecard and Cum-Ex, where Mr. Scholz is characterized by constant forgetting. The election of the Minister of Health based on the power of the media, which he would not have done voluntarily, does not show a clear line. All in all, I fear the worst from this government, since there are ministers in crucial positions without sufficient experience. “

Stephan Klein

Big footsteps

“At the beginning of the Merkel era, nobody knew that she would be the ‘right one’. Some in the CDU saw it only as a temporary solution. Scholz is following in big footsteps but he deserves a fair chance. He will have to proclaim and enforce unreasonable demands that will demand a lot from people. Let’s hope for good success in our own interest! “

Deodat from Eickstedt

Often submerged

“As a Lübeck resident close to Hamburg, I experienced many things at the time of the future Chancellor that make me doubt whether Scholz can be in a crisis … Unfortunately, he always dodged the important issues and in retrospect did not cut a good figure. I only remember the riots at the G20 or the machinations about HSH Nordbank. One can only wish that the traffic light seizes the opportunity and brings Germany forward and Scholz shows leadership qualities. More than before. “

Jens-Olaf Teschke

Credible team play chancellor

“In the pandemic, speaking and acting will become one. It will be less (only) announced in the future. I imagine Scholz as a credible team play Chancellor. I expect a new, digitally and ecologically driven and socially supported awakening and upswing. The optimism widespread in the coalition agreement is contagious, and I hope that it will have a lasting effect beyond the change in government. “

Joe Fass

New beginnings as well as upheavals

“As a 22-year-old student who, as a politically thinking person, has only seen Chancellor Merkel so far, I perceive the new traffic light government as both a new beginning and a radical change. However, I tend to attach these changes to the two junior partners rather than to Chancellor Olaf Scholz himself. From the perspective of the younger generation, the pension example shows how conservative the allocation of responsibilities and thus the approaches to a future-oriented pension remain. Neither the proposal of the pension commission appointed by Labor Minister Heil to raise the retirement age to 68 years was accepted, nor were specific, fundamental reforms of the pension initiated, as demanded by the FDP and the Greens. In other issues, however, the traffic light acts like an alliance of convenience, so that each of the three parties in the coming legislative period can enforce demands such as cannabis legalization, an early coal phase-out, an increase in the minimum wage and the introduction of citizens’ money, which can only be implemented by majorities outside the Union. “

Julius Lübberdink

Scholz has to merge

“Angela Merkel is leaving, Olaf Scholz is coming – a change that is necessary. 16 years of political stability, effective crisis management and an impressive woman. But people slept for a long time, politics became more reactive than active, reforms were postponed, and not enough answers were found to the big questions of our time. So it is good that a change is coming, at the same time it is accompanied by two young, motivated parties, led by an experienced center, the SPD.

It would be important here to concentrate on the really pressing issues such as climate protection, social policy or a shift in power in foreign policy. If you take care of identity-political content first, you will not achieve acceptance in society and certainly not be able to maintain it for four years. Because who wants a quarreling federal government that gets lost in the smallest detail. So Scholz must above all bring one and together. “

Fabian Meyerhöfer

You can also read about the new Federal Chancellor

Put your foot in the hamster wheel

“I expect and hope from Chancellor Scholz: thinking before talking and acting. But also citizen-oriented solutions to citizens’ problems. Pressure on the federal administration, where it has to be, and necessary trust in independent thinking.

Simply embark on a creative policy in which the result counts more than the twentieth application form. And a look at the psyche of society, which is brought to the brink of collapse through the exclusive focus on economic issues – in care, education, but also all other issues in the world of work. Somebody just has to put their foot in the hamster wheel so that they don’t all run away. A calm, slowed-down and thinking Chancellor is perhaps the right thing to do. “

Miriam Thormählen

With the sleeping car to office

“Olaf Scholz made it, he was so boring during the election campaign that people didn’t even think he could get dirty. While the other two kicked and tried to make a trick, the nice Olaf simply held back quite gallantly. As few statements as possible, as little courage as possible, as little change as possible. Just hear as little as possible from politics. In a world that is getting more and more crazy, Germans just want to have their peace and quiet. It is a dangerous development for democracy if, in the end, the person who says the least and demands the least wins. Without a discussion and discussion of the content, no informed voting decision can be made. But after the last election campaign it looks like you’re going to the Chancellery in a sleeping car. “

Felix Witzlinger

Expected positive, but not fulfilled

“1. Olaf Scholz will only master the pandemic with Karl Lauterbach.
2. Olaf Scholz will do everything in teamwork.
3. In economic policy, positive things are expected but not fulfilled.
4. Tax increases are becoming inevitable.
5. Massively increase retirement allowances for over 75-year-olds and do not tax pensions twice. “
Erna-Maria Appelfelder

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