After the poor results of the European elections, there is an end to endless discussions in the coalition, said Scholz. Citizens criticize the unclear decision-making process, now clear steps must follow.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called on the traffic light coalition to pull itself together following the poor results in the European elections.
“I think that is one of the justified criticisms of many citizens, that there is too much discussion,” said the SPD politician in a ZDF interview at the G7 summit in southern Italy. “In the end, a lot of decisions are made, but sometimes you can’t even see what has been decided behind the gun smoke.”
In an interview with RTL and ntv, Scholz reiterated that one cannot simply move on to business as usual after the losses of the traffic light parties in the election. That means, first and foremost, “doing the homework that still needs to be done.”
Scholz told ZDF that the immediate issue was the budget for next year – a task “that we have to solve soon, on time at the beginning of next month.” And it was about “good growth” and modern jobs. “And that also means that we have to pull ourselves together and pull ourselves together in the way we reach an agreement.”
Scholz convinced of his own candidacy for chancellor: “Yes”
Looking ahead to the federal election next year, Scholz was confident that he would be able to show a good record and good prospects despite the recent election defeat. “But I want to say explicitly that this does mean that everyone has to pause and make a firm resolution to do this, to join hands.” This of course applies “especially to my party, which is dealing with the difficult situation with great solidarity.”
And will he also be his party’s candidate for chancellor? Scholz is convinced of that. In an ARD interview, when asked whether he was sure, given the criticism, that he would be the SPD’s next candidate for chancellor, he replied with a brief “yes”. At the same time, he reiterated why he did not want to ask for a vote of confidence after the poor result of the traffic light parties in the European elections. “The fact is that the government has a majority in parliament. We have just passed laws this week in the German Bundestag and we have a mandate to fulfil and do our work. That is what we are doing,” said Scholz, who was interviewed before leaving the G7 summit in Bari, Italy.
Scholz did not want to “assess from the outside” that French President Emmanuel Macron is taking a different path and has called parliamentary elections at short notice. France has a very different political system than Germany. Scholz said: “There is a directly elected president. There is no proportional representation system, but constituencies in which only the MPs are elected.”
In the European elections, the SPD recorded its worst result to date in a nationwide vote, with 13.9 percent.
Source: Stern
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