New government: no grace period | tagesschau.de

Rarely has a government come into being under such critical circumstances. For Chancellor Scholz, the first practical test has long since begun. There will be no grace period.

Arrived. Finally. The man who wanted chancellor. Who himself was the first to say that he can become Chancellor, finally on the government bench. All the way outside. Chancellor’s chair. This Olaf Scholz, who occasionally comes across as low-speed, Hanseatic, you could see how proud he is behind the corona mask. It has taken 19 long years since Gerhard Schröder was the last Social Democrat to take the oath in the Bundestag. 19 long years of hard work for this SPD too. The one who had sat in the engine room of power so often since then, her hands smeared with oil, kept the shop and land under steam, but rarely determined the course. 16 years Merkel shaped the country and politics not always to the advantage.

So now Chancellor Olaf Scholz is on the bridge. The man who says there are no more red lines for this government in pandemic times. For this government, however, it is also clear that, first of all, there is no time for a 100-day grace period. The times are not like that. Rarely has a government come into being under such critical circumstances.

Not even in office, the country demanded leadership from him. A chancellor who takes the oath with a mask. A Bundestag in pandemic times. A country that recently had to think of corona outgrowths of lateral thinking muddleheads when it comes to torchlight procession. The first practical test began long before today’s oath of office.

Inherited crisis

The pandemic, the inherited crisis for a traffic light coalition that wants to dare progress with a Scholz who, like Merkel, likes to think before he speaks. He will have a lot to think about, but also a lot to explain. Merkel’s great weakness. She clarified a lot, explained almost nothing. Merkel could crisis – they say today. Scholz is in crisis. Corona, the evil of mankind. There is also a risk of war in Ukraine. He gets the balancing act, which is particularly interesting for social democrats, between dialogue and alliance obligations in matters of Russia.

Then there is the major Chinese construction site, with a Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, who wants to say what is – and a Chancellor Scholz, who is what he says: pragmatic and rational to the point of lack of emotion. It is no coincidence that the Chinese President was one of the first to congratulate Scholz today.

There is Europe, which for a long time now has not only embodied an opportunity, but currently more of a crisis. The hope that this Olaf Scholz will grip Emmanuel Macron’s outstretched hand tighter than Merkel ever did. Together with France, when things are tight for the European Union, this European fortune goes ahead.

The world that burns

And after all, that is no less than the world on fire. Climate change is bigger than five green ministers. Merkel only carried the title of Climate Chancellor. Scholz now has to do everything to really earn the title of Climate Chancellor.

“Party good. Group good. Good luck,” said Franz Müntefering. Today he will be proud that a Social Democrat is Chancellor again. The next four years will have to show whether he can be proud of this government. Luck on the traffic light coalition.