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Scholz in Munich
Driver and mood maker – the Chancellor’s astonishing appearance
“Without security everything is nothing,” Olaf Scholz at the Munich Security Conference
© Johannes Simon / Getty Images
Demands from European partners, support for his own ministers – his speech to the security conference shows once again: Olaf Scholz doesn’t want to be talked down to.
The appearance was short, but it did not lack clarity. Almost half an hour was presented Olaf Scholz at the Munich Security Conference. Half the time he gave a speech, the rest of the time he was questioned. The Chancellor sees himself as a driver in foreign policy and as a mood-maker in domestic policy, and that could not be ignored. In Munich, Olaf Scholz once again showed himself to be unwavering in every respect. His most important message: I won’t let myself be talked down to.
In terms of foreign policy, Scholz devoted himself entirely to the war in Ukraine. He prefaced his speech with the question: Are we doing enough? But this was not aimed at Germany, but primarily at our partners in Europe. The man who had a reputation as a ditherer after the Russian attack on Ukraine, the Chancellor who only approved every arms shipment after weeks and often months of discussions, this Olaf Scholz now appears with the self-confidence of the European head of government, perhaps not the fastest is, but the one with the longest breath; which does not supply every weapon system, but after the USA, the most and most effective ones.
Olaf Scholz: He is now putting the others under pressure
The Chancellor, who was under pressure for a long time, is now putting the others under pressure. In Munich, he described in detail the consequences that a Russian victory in Ukraine could have – for the security of Europe and the entire world. To this he added, quite bluntly, the demand that all Europeans increase their aid to Ukraine. Scholz, who had to hear in the first year of the war that Germany’s initial hesitation might lead to a Russian victory in Ukraine, is now warning his European partners not to take on this blame.
But the Chancellor didn’t just come up trumps in Munich in terms of foreign policy. He also used the opportunity to make a domestic policy detour, with which he brushed off two of his most important ministers. To do this, he used the question of whether Germany, given its economic weakness, was even able to consistently raise the money for high military spending. Weakness? What weakness? After Robert Habeck (“dramatic”) and Christian Lindner (“embarrassing”) had outdone each other in the past few days, Scholz set the mood in Munich and pointed to high investments and low unemployment. There is “no need to worry,” said the Chancellor.
Stations of his life
Olaf Scholz: From the Jusos to the Chancellery
Olaf Scholz didn’t say much new in Munich. But the familiar thing about him is sometimes particularly impressive: the deeper into the crisis he is, the more calm, self-confident and confident this chancellor appears. And if you have to judge whether this is an astonishing denial of reality or an astonishing leadership quality, then at least based on the appearance at the security conference, the latter prevails. Albeit barely.