Olaf Scholz cannot be accused of being made too nervous by the widespread excitement in political Berlin these days. Or he could be accused of doing just that. In any case, on a sweltering Wednesday evening, the Chancellor is standing in the middle of a circle of chairs at a public meeting in Berlin. Around 130 people who had applied, were chosen at random and can now ask the Chancellor whatever they want are sitting around him.
It is the first opportunity for Scholz to speak in detail about the political situation since election Sunday, now that calls for a stricter asylum policy are becoming louder and the reports of the Russian war in Ukraine are becoming more and more worrying. But the Chancellor says he is sleeping well. “I have a nature that enables me to get what I do done,” says Scholz.
The Chancellor was asked whether he could still sleep well, even though Germany was always lagging behind what Kiev wanted when it came to arms deliveries to Ukraine. And what Scholz said after referring to his nature was typical of Scholz, who, to put it mildly, is not always met with enthusiasm in the capital.
Short version: I’m right, it’s just that not everyone notices. Long version of this question: Germany is the second biggest supporter of Ukraine, it is a problem in the political debate that some people don’t even notice it, and anyway it is too much for some and too little for others, but: “I won’t let myself be pressured, I’ll stick to the level-headed course.” There is even applause for that.
Scholz: “The election result for the AfD depresses us greatly”
The republic is nervous, the political debates are heated, the comparisons in recent days have often been historic: after the election results in Saxony and Thuringia, after the triumph of AfD and also BSW, after the setbacks for the traffic light coalition, and after the asylum discussions after the attack in Solingen, this is also reflected in the questions asked by citizens on Wednesday evening.
But Scholz remains calm and even when he says that the “election result for the AfD is very depressing” and that it is not good that populism is receiving so much support, he sounds like someone who has noticed that the milk in the fridge has expired. But maybe that is just a matter of nature.
At least the Chancellor tries to answer all the questions about worries and fears in a calm and detailed manner, and when it is not about what his government has already done, he also becomes more general. When it comes to the AfD and populists, he talks about three factors that need to be taken into account: firstly, the time of great upheaval, the uncertainties, and elsewhere he also talks about how important it is to be able to believe in a good future.
Secondly, it is about migration, a topic that some people exploit with hatred and resentment, but which also involves irregular migration, which the Chancellor wants to take action against. And thirdly, support for Ukraine plays a role that some people think is too much, but on which, as the attentive reader will already have guessed, he will stick to his level-headed course.
Migration and asylum policy came up again and again this evening, asked from different directions and with different focuses. When someone blamed refugees from Ukraine and the world for the housing shortage, Scholz disagreed and received applause. He also said how urgently Germany needed immigration, also for the economy. Germany should be able to choose who comes, he said. And those who have to flee should be given protection.
Then he talks about the fight against irregular migration, where his government has of course already done a lot. And with a view to the talks with the states and the opposition, the first round of which took place on Tuesday, he says: “If things go really well, we will manage to implement further measures that we will agree with the opposition.” And: “It’s not my fault.”
It is unlikely that he already knew that CDU leader Friedrich Merz had given him an ultimatum during the election campaign in Brandenburg. “If the federal government is not prepared to give us a binding declaration by next Tuesday that the uncontrolled influx at the borders will be stopped and those who still come will be turned back at the borders in Germany, then further talks with the federal government make no sense,” Merz said at an election campaign event in Brandenburg. Scholz said nothing about the rejection at the borders in Berlin.
And so we slowly move into the oppressive heat of the night, from question to question. From the ban on advertising unhealthy food for children, to the speed limit, to the government’s external image, which sometimes seems like a small bunch of children (Scholz: “You’re right”).
At the end, the Chancellor is asked what the history books should say about him and his time in office. He says: “People who know this before and during their time in office are people you should be afraid of.” And then he talks about respect and being on equal terms, about justice. “I don’t like it when some people think they’re better than others when they talk to them,” he says. And: “In the end, we’re all the same.” Applause, the end, selfies, exit.
