On Wednesday, Olaf Scholz was sworn in as Germany’s new Chancellor, ending Angela Merkel’s four years at the helm of Europe’s largest economy.
Scholz, the Social Democratic Party’s (SPD) leader, won the secret vote in Parliament as predicted, capping months of discussions following the SPD’s narrow victory in federal elections in September.
Scholz traveled to visit German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who formally designated him as the country’s next Chancellor, as per tradition. He was then sworn in at the House of Commons.
In Merkel’s first coalition administration in the late 2000s, the 63-year-old SPD lifer served as Labor and Social Affairs Minister. He was elected mayor of Hamburg in 2011, a position he maintained until 2018 with strong support. Since then, he has served in Merkel’s grand coalition government as vice-chancellor and finance minister, a key post in German national politics.
His political approach is comparable to that of his previous employer in many aspects, despite the fact that they are from opposing political parties.
Scholz has positioned himself as a pragmatist and a safe pair of hands, forming a three-party coalition with the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP). He is seen as a moderate and centrist, making him an oddity within his own party.
Since then, he has served in Merkel’s grand coalition government as vice-chancellor and finance minister, a key post in German national politics.
His political approach is comparable to that of his previous employer in many aspects, despite the fact that they are from opposing political parties. Scholz has positioned himself as a pragmatist and a safe pair of hands, forming a three-party coalition with the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP). He is seen as a moderate and centrist, making him an oddity within his own party.
“During the campaign, Scholz appears to have posed as [Merkel’s] worthy heir, calm and quiet and with his hands folded into a Merkel-style rhombus in a picture that went viral,” said Holger Schmieding, the head economist at Berenberg Bank, in an analyst note on Wednesday. “He probably paid her the best compliment he could have given her by imitating her. Despite various highs and lows throughout her long tenure, Merkel departs office as the country’s most popular leader, with 69 percent of the vote “I approve.”
