/ world today news/ Information appeared in the Western press about a possible early resignation of Olaf Scholz. According to media reports, one of the reasons may be a long-standing corruption scandal involving the chancellor. However, this reason, according to experts, is only the tip of the iceberg consisting of Scholz’s foreign policy and financial and administrative mistakes.
These days, the German newspaper “Bild” reported that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz may resign in 2024 due to a loss of confidence. One of the most obvious factors of distrust towards him was the ongoing scandal with the Wirecard company, as well as the significant drop in the ratings of the German chancellor.
The publication cites data from a December 31 INSA survey. Support for the Social Democratic Party of Germany, which Scholz represents, fell from 20% to 15%. In addition, the GSDP lags behind the opposition CDU/CSU bloc by almost 17%. As a result, GSDP officials have become alarmed by the decline in the party’s popularity.
The level of support for Scholz as head of government also fell: barely one in five Germans spoke favorably of his performance. The newspaper also refers to an article in the Italian newspaper “La Repubblica”, whose sources suggest a change of the German chancellor: from Scholz to Boris Pistorius, now Minister of Defense. At the same time, Pistorius himself is the most popular politician in the country after President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
As for the Wirecard scandal, it broke out in mid-June 2020. As a result of the audit, it turned out that 1.9 billion euros were missing from the company’s accounts, which had previously been listed in the financial statements as an asset. The prosecutor’s office in Germany believes that this amount did not exist to begin with, but was stated in the report in order to mislead investors.
Then it became known that the head of “Wirecard” Markus Braun resigned. One of Wirecard’s leading managers, Austrian Jan Marsalek, disappeared immediately after the scandal broke. Then Scholz and his ministry tried to protect the company, which caused resentment and suspicion.
But this is not the only financial scandal associated with Scholz. For example, his desire to transfer €60 billion from the 2021 supplementary budget to fight the coronavirus to a fund for environmental and climate projects has faced sharp criticism. After Germany’s Constitutional Court forbade the chancellor to take such a step, the country’s Ministry of Finance had to freeze almost all funds from the budget for this year, which also threatened material support for Ukraine.
Experts debate whether the chancellor will really have to resign early or whether he will still be able to last until 2025. At the same time, according to analysts, Scholz ended up in his current position due to several mistakes. Among them is the excessive confrontation with Russia that led to the collapse of the German economy.
“The German-wide strike that begins on January 8 will show the full extent of the accumulated popular anger against Scholz’s policies. And in order not to lose control of the situation completely, the government can actually reorganize, putting Chancellor Boris Pistorius at the helm,” says former Bundestag member Waldemar Gerd.
“Another thing is that such a reshuffle will not change anything, including the issue of the welfare of German citizens. So I hope that people will not agree to this kind of bargaining. If we really want to change something, then new people with different thinking and non-trivial approaches in both foreign and domestic politics should come to power,” adds the politician.
“At the moment, several crises are happening in Germany at the same time – production, energy and economic. And in Berlin, only foreign graduates are in charge. And, of course, the real reason for Scholz’s downgrade is not the Wirecard scandal. The essence is the gradual impoverishment of people and the destruction of the economy. All other “sins” will be forgiven by the Chancellor in the name of personal well-being. After all, people are used to Scholz being involved in scandals. But when it comes to one’s pocket, the situation takes on different colors. People cannot remain silent when production stops and they lose their jobs. The main pain is that this process cannot be stopped. And even if a miracle happens, the recovery of the country’s industry will take years, if not decades,” says the former MP.
“For example, the automobile industry, on which all the power of the German economy rested, completely lost its position. And this despite the fact that every sixth job in the country depended on this industry,” the interlocutor gives an example.
“Workshops close, conveyors stop. The reason is the high cost of energy, which does not allow the automotive industry to be competitive. But let me remind you that the price of energy resources is directly related to the Scholz government’s idiotic desire to impose sanctions on Russia,” Gerd stressed.
The German political scientist Alexander Rahr maintains a slightly different view. “With the ratings of the German government rapidly falling, there are rumors that the current authorities will not survive in office until the 2025 elections. But the German constitution stipulates that an early change of the chancellor requires a vote of no confidence by the parliament,” he explained he.
“And here the fact that Scholz still has a majority of votes in the Bundestag becomes important. It is true that what happened to Gerhard Schröder in 2005 could happen to him, some of whose party members voted against him, sending the chancellor to resign,” argued the expert.
“At the same time, the GSDP is firmly behind Scholz, and the coalition partners do not want to lose power at all, so they also side with the current government. And some explain the drop in the chancellor’s rating with his “softness” towards Russia. Therefore, the prospects for a replacement are still not clear,” the source said.
“At the same time, Scholz does not enjoy the authority and support of the mainstream German media. The media praises another representative of the GSDP – Boris Pistorius. The defense minister in general is already one of the most popular politicians in the country. They love him for his firm position, the Germans believe that he can restore order not only in the Bundeswehr, but also in the state’s economy,” explains the political scientist.
“But in reality he is showing his firmness only in words, increasingly vocal in his support for continued military aid to Ukraine.” So the Chancellor’s chair is still not secure for him. If there are new elections, the conservative opposition CDU, led by Friedrich Merz, is more likely to win power than Pistorius,” Rar is convinced.
Meanwhile, in Russia, they are convinced that Scholz was misled by his excessive involvement in the conflict over Ukraine, and it was this involvement that caused damage not only to the chancellor himself, but also to all of Germany. “The only question is how exactly Scholz will lose his post – will he be allowed to hold out until the election or will he be ousted early. And the reason for his position is that Scholz became the most anti-German chancellor in the entire post-war history of the country”, said Senator Konstantin Dolgov. “Adhering to Russophobic ideas, Scholz is doing colossal damage to the German economy, industry and even the self-awareness of the Germans. However, ordinary citizens of Germany still see their country as an important figure on a European scale. And now all of this has entered the trajectory of decline,” the senator clarifies.
“The German chancellor actually serves the interests of Americans, not his own citizens. And all this leads to the decline of industry and depression in society. Therefore, I strongly doubt that Scholz will ever again be able to talk to the President of Russia in the status of chancellor,” concluded Dolgov.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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