The Economist explains

Who is Olaf Scholz, and what kind of Germany would he lead?

The plain-spoken finance minister from Hamburg is the leading contender to replace Angela Merkel

IF GERMANS VOTED for their chancellor directly, Olaf Scholz would have been a shoo-in to succeed Angela Merkel at the federal election on September 26th. The candidate of the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), Mr Scholz was much more popular than his main rival, Armin Laschet, the candidate for Mrs Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian ally, the Christian Social Union (CSU). In the end Mr Scholz’s popularity helped lift the SPD to only its fourth national election victory in post-war history, albeit a narrow one: the SPD took 25.7% of the vote to the CDU/CSU’s 24.1%. After weeks of coalition negotiations with the Greens and liberal Free Democrats (FDP), Mr Scholz is on track to form a government and fill Mrs Merkel’s shoes. Who is Olaf Scholz, and what kind of Germany does he want to lead?

As well as being the SPD’s candidate, Mr Scholz is Germany’s finance minister and vice-chancellor—jobs he has held since 2018 in the “grand coalition” his party formed with Mrs Merkel’s conservatives (and which will remain in charge until a new government is formed). When the pandemic struck, Mr Scholz loosened the purse strings, arguing that Germany’s fiscal rectitude in previous years had created the space to spend when disaster struck. Germany launched a domestic stimulus package worth €130bn ($150bn), and Mr Scholz’s finance ministry was instrumental in pushing through the EU’s €750bn ($886bn) recovery plan. His largesse has limits, however. He wants Germany to reimpose the strictures of its constitutional “debt brake”, which limits deficit spending, in 2023, and is opposed to loosening the EU’s fiscal rules, as Italy and France would like.

Mr Scholz is one of Germany’s most experienced politicians. A trusted lieutenant to Gerhard Schröder, the SPD’s last chancellor, in the early 2000s, Mr Scholz went on to assume responsibilities at cabinet (labour minister) and regional (mayor of Hamburg, his home town) levels. His personal traits are those typically associated with his northern city’s burghers: pragmatic, plain-spoken (“I’m liberal, but not stupid,” he once said on law and order) and Protestant (no alcohol was served at his leaving party at Hamburg’s city hall, it being a work day). In the early 2000s he was dubbed the “Scholz-o-mat” for his robotic demeanour. True to form, Mr Scholz has not let his party’s victory go to his head. He happily stood back while his preferred coalition partners, the Greens and FDP, began talks among themselves.

What does Mr Scholz want for Germany? He has promised to build more houses to arrest rent rises, and can point to a strong record on housing in Hamburg. He also pledges faster action on climate without endangering jobs, and to turn Germany into a leading exporter of green-energy technology. An immediate priority would be to increase the hourly minimum wage from €9.60 to €12. These are not radical promises, but they contain enough social-democratic red meat to satisfy the left wing of Mr Scholz’s party. Caution and competence, his signature traits, have brought Mr Scholz a long way. Now they are on the verge of carrying him into Germany’s chancellery.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated since it was first published.

More on the German election:
How do Germany’s elections work?
Why the CDU/CSU’s Armin Laschet is floundering in Germany’s election
Why Annalena Baerbock disappointed many

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