This week Angela Merkel will hand over the official duties to her designated successor Olaf Scholz.
(Photo: Imago)
The last days are dawning for Angela Merkel as Federal Chancellor. After 16 years, she is expected to hand over her official duties to Olaf Scholz on Wednesday. Merkel has already put the traditional farewell through the Great Zapfenstreich behind her in her unexcited manner.
In her honor, the music corps played the hymn “Great God, we praise you”, the chanson “For me it should rain red roses” and Nina Hagen’s GDR hit “You forgot the color film”, along with fireworks and ringing church bells. Everything that goes with a big tattoo.
One era ends – does the next begin under Olaf Scholz? At least he has already forged a coalition that, on the one hand, nobody had given him credit for and, on the other hand, it has never existed in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. And those involved are not holding back with superlatives about their plans for the next four years: The traffic lights will be “groundbreaking for Germany”, said Scholz. And based on Willy Brandt’s (SPD) historical sentence “We want to dare more democracy” at the start of the social-liberal coalition in 1969, the current 177-page coalition agreement of the traffic light alliance is entitled “Dare to make more progress – Alliance for freedom, justice and sustainability”.
It is now important for Olaf Scholz to turn all the promises and announcements into reality. Hence our question to you, dear readers: What will Olaf Scholz do differently than his predecessor? And would that mean an improvement or a deterioration in German politics? What are the main challenges he will be confronted with – and does he have the potential to overcome them? Will economic policy change dramatically under him? Write us your opinion in five sentences [email protected]. We will publish selected contributions on Thursday in print and online, with attribution.
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In any case, a number of potential sources of conflict can already be guessed at. In the coalition negotiations, the SPD, the Greens and the FDP were still able to bypass these or deliberately ignore them. But in day-to-day government, the parties have to deal with them for better or for worse.
Corona will remain a constant topic for the coming months. How do Scholz and Co. maneuver through the current fourth and a possible fifth or sixth wave? Will they be the government to introduce a previously much discussed vaccination requirement?
In addition, Olaf Scholz will have to assert himself alongside the alpha men Robert Habeck and Christian Lindner. It remains to be seen whether they will rise up to noisy counterplay – or whether they will do their work reasonably quietly and efficiently in the interests of the coalition.
And don’t forget: the issue of affordability. A little like spoiled and insatiable boys and girls writing their wish list, the parties involved have written project after project in the coalition agreement. They exceed the volume of the federal budget many times over. How will Scholz solve this dilemma? Can he even solve it? What course of action will he be able to tackle with the multitude of topics ranging from housing and pension policy to the modernization of the welfare state and combating climate change?
If you would like to have your say in the Handelsblatt on this topic, please write us a comment, either by email [email protected] or on Instagram at @handelsblatt.