Policy competence: Scholz doesn’t want to constantly bang on the table in government

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) does not want to overdo his policymaking authority in the federal government. He said in a conversation with citizens in Hamburg that he does have the opportunity to bring about a decision “from time to time” on controversial issues in the traffic light coalition with the Greens and the FDP.

But you can’t do that every day. “Because it’s like someone who constantly hits the table with something and in the end has to go to the doctor to have his fist treated.” He wanted to avoid that.

According to the Basic Law, the Chancellor in the federal government determines the policy guidelines. However, this directive authority is only exercised formally very rarely. Scholz only formally used this option in the dispute between the FDP and the Greens over nuclear power plant lifetimes by writing a letter to his cabinet. Such a step had only been taken by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer more than half a century ago.

Clear statement on European asylum policy

In the dispute over European asylum policy, Scholz made a clear announcement in the cabinet last week that Germany should not block the planned reform in Brussels. But he did not want this to be understood as an exercise of directive authority.

According to a Forsa survey, the majority of the population would like Scholz to assert himself more in disputes in the government. 68 percent are of the opinion that he should make more use of his policymaking authority and speak out, as shown in the RTL/ntv “Trend Barometer”. For 25 percent of the 1,009 respondents, Scholz should continue as before and not intervene more frequently.