At the center of power
Mrs. von Olaf Scholz: A determined politician instead of the classic first lady
Britta Ernst and Olaf Scholz after casting their vote for the 2021 federal election in Potsdam. Ernst works there as Minister of Education.
© Alexey Vitvitsky / Picture Alliance
The coalition negotiations of the traffic light parties have begun. If they succeed, Olaf Scholz would become Federal Chancellor. But who is the woman by his side and what plan is she pursuing?
Claudia Haas
The question of whether Olaf Scholz will actually become Chancellor is no longer very tense after the start of the traffic light negotiations. There are all the more question marks with a view to the future role of his wife Britta Ernst. When the SPD politician became first mayor of Hamburg in 2011, she avoided taking on the classic role of first lady – and retained her political independence. Should Scholz move into the Chancellery, the topic will be on the table again.
Britta Ernst: First Lady, Minister of Education or both?
In January, Ernst took over the chairmanship of the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) of the federal states as Brandenburg Education Minister – an important position, especially in the Corona period. After all, hardly any other topic was discussed more emotionally and controversially in lockdown times than education policy. Ernst has been Minister in Potsdam since September 2017. It remains to be seen whether she will continue her political career there as the wife of the Federal Chancellor.
No spouse of a head of government has ever got away without representative duties. The power couple Scholz / Ernst would have to reorganize themselves when they move into the Chancellery. So far there are no known public statements by Ernst.
Scholz criticizes the sexist question about his wife’s future
What Scholz thinks of questions about whether his wife will continue to work in the event of his chancellorship, he made clear at the end of July in a talk at the women’s magazine “Brigitte”. “That is a question that makes me indignant. I do not know whether it will also be asked of men who are spouses,” he said, highlighting his wife’s successful political career on the occasion.
The two have been married since 1998 and have known each other for student days in Hamburg. Even in earlier times, the childless couple carefully kept a professional distance in public.
While Scholz experienced his own ups and downs in state and federal politics, the trained clerk in the real estate and housing industry, who later studied social economics, went her own way in Hamburg – initially as a member of the district and state parliament
At the same time, Ernst, who joined the SPD in 1978 at the age of 17, worked as a personal advisor for senators and as a research assistant for the Hamburg building authorities. Over time, the native of Hamburg concentrated primarily on the school and education sector.
Britta Ernst: Political work instead of protocol role
When her husband won an absolute majority for the Social Democrats in Hamburg in 2011 and became first mayor, a senatorial post as a spouse was out of the question for her. At the same time, the protocol role of the Hamburg First Lady was not for Ernst, who prefers to deal with factual issues.
She turned her back on state politics and worked in the federal-state coordination office of the SPD parliamentary group in Berlin. In 2014, Ernst became Minister of Education in Schleswig-Holstein.
After the SPD’s defeat in the local state elections in 2017, she lost her ministerial post. A little later, however, a new opportunity arose in Brandenburg: Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) brought the education expert to Potsdam. Ernst stayed there even after the state elections in 2019 and the change to a coalition of the SPD, CDU and the Greens.
In the federal election campaign, Scholz, who is otherwise so cautious about private life, gave a few rare insights into his life. It was there to find out that under pressure from his wife he discovered jogging for himself more than 20 years ago and that he could cook Königsberger Klopse. The SPD politician also revealed that Britta Ernst was the love of his life: Without her, he would “certainly be a completely different person” and, thanks to her, would be clearly a better one.