Merkel presents Scholz on the world stage

At home in Berlin, Scholz is negotiating with the Greens and the FDP about a traffic light government. It is quite possible that, as planned, he will be elected as the next Chancellor in the Bundestag during St. Nicholas Week at the beginning of December.

Merkel hardly seems to have any doubts about this either. Anyone who experiences the Chancellor and Scholz together in Rome can get the impression that they really get on well.

In the oval of the working sessions, Merkel’s place is between the French Emmanuel Macron and the Indian Narendra Modi. You just have to turn around, then the Chancellor can coordinate with Scholz. He is sitting at the table right behind her. If you observe a scene before the first working session on Saturday, you get the feeling that close friends were talking to each other. Merkel is very relaxed with Scholz, her summit Sherpa Lars-Hendrik Röller and Scholz’s State Secretary Wolfgang Schmidt.

Merkel, Scholz and Biden at eye level

At the most important bilateral meeting between Merkel and Scholz, the one with US President Joe Biden, all three sit at eye level. The visual language should not have been chosen by chance: Biden and Scholz sit in the foreground on the left and right at the table, they are the actors who will continue to act in the future. The outgoing Chancellor is quite relaxed and placed slightly set back in the middle at the head end.

The financial and economic crisis at the beginning, the euro crisis in Merkel’s second term in office, the refugee and migration crisis in her third term and the corona crisis in her fourth term. That took a lot of strength. Now the Chancellor wants her legacy to be in good hands.

If it is not possible to hand over the Chancellery to the Union as requested, it should at least go to a man you trust. In any case, in Rome, Merkel leaves little doubt that Scholz fits into this category for her.

A week before the summit, she made it clear in a major interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” that she was relaxed and confident about the change of power in the Chancellery. “I know what we have achieved in the governments that I have led.”

When asked whether she could sleep peacefully at all with the idea that a social democrat would rule this country again in the future, she said “yes”. And so that everyone understands that, she added: “There will be political differences, that goes without saying. But I can sleep peacefully. “

The external message: continuity

Merkel and Scholz seem not dissimilar in type, despite all the political differences that actually exist between the Christian Democrat and the Social Democrat, not only in terms of shared EU debts.

In the duet in Rome, it seems as if Scholz had recreated the hands shaped into the world-famous Merkel diamond in a photo for the “SZ” magazine, not just because of election campaign calculations. Merkel often nods to Scholz during his analyzes. The SPD man does it the other way around at least as often when the Chancellor speaks out.

One of the main messages from Merkel and Scholz to the partners of this world and probably also to the people at home should be to demonstrate continuity. That was already clear beforehand. How clearly this actually happened can be considered a surprise.

Merkel praises the agreement on a global corporate tax, which Scholz has been responsible for for a long time, as a great merit of her finance minister. He enjoys the Chancellor’s recognition without triumphant behavior. Worldwide fight against corona, climate protection, economy – of course there are differences between the two. But also a lot in common. That seems to reassure Merkel.

In terms of personality, too, they both seem to tick in a similar way: calm, calm and considered in their approach. At some point in Rome, Merkel remarked on the sidelines that Scholz did not need her blessing for future tasks. After all, they worked well together for many years.

Reassurance for the international community

But of course the Chancellor should also be pleased that the joint presentation of a Germany in transition in the Italian capital is going so smoothly. Merkel hopes that this will also reassure the international community, given the great importance of the most important country in Europe.

This should be an important signal of continuity, especially in view of such divided power transfers as recently between the US President Donald Trump of the Republicans and the Democrat Joe Biden. Scholz seems to see it very similarly.

The SPD chancellor candidate should be able to get over the fact that Scholz does not seem to be quite so well known in the US government. In a message from the White House about the meeting on the future of the nuclear deal with Iran on Saturday, he appears as Olaf Schulz instead of Scholz – until the Americans discover the spelling mistake and correct it two and a half hours later soberly.

The Americans will soon get to know him better, Scholz might think: on the first visit to Biden in the Oval Office in Washington.

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