Chancellor
“Happy Birthday” for Scholz at the G7 summit
Chancellor Olaf Scholz is celebrated at the G7 summit. He turns 66 today. Photo
© Steffen Kugler/Federal Government/dpa
With the aftermath of the European elections, the week has not started particularly well for the Chancellor. But now there is still a reason to celebrate: Scholz is turning 66 – and is celebrating at the summit.
A conciliatory end to a difficult week for the Chancellor Olaf Scholz: The heads of state and government of the G7 group celebrated his 66th birthday at the summit in southern Italy. Before the first working session on migration on Friday, some of them sang “Happy Birthday” outside the meeting room, according to the German delegation.
In attendance were US President Joe Biden, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel.
Birthday cake for the Chancellor
During the night, Scholz, who is accompanied in Italy by his wife Britta Ernst, had already celebrated his birthday. At midnight, he was in a helicopter on the return flight from dinner with Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the medieval Hohenstaufen castle Castello Svevo in Brindisi. Afterwards, he celebrated at the summit venue, in the luxury resort “Borgo Egnazia”, with his closest colleagues and was surprised by them with a birthday cake.
The week did not start particularly well for Scholz with the aftermath of the European elections. His SPD had achieved 13.9 percent, the worst result since it began running under that name in national elections in Germany. After the G7 conference, the Chancellor will travel on to Switzerland on Saturday for the Ukraine peace conference. After that, he will have to return to Berlin to prepare the federal budget.