Olaf Scholz is a clever head, but this often gets in his way, a senior Union politician recently said in a background conversation. Variants of this image are now appearing more frequently: The Federal Chancellor suffers from the fact that others repeatedly stand in the way of his wisdom, jokes a member of parliament who has also known the Chancellor for many years. And an SPD man remarked sarcastically: The smartest thoughts always come from Olaf himself. What connects the statements is an impression that also emerges from distant observers: Measured against his high self-assessment, the Chancellor doesn't achieve much. He seems blocked, increasingly distant. And it's not just because of the others.
What is new is that Social Democrats are also noticing this. For more than two years they gritted their teeth and refrained from criticizing the unfortunate reign of “their” chancellor. The motto was to wait and see. Hadn't Scholz already been right in 2021, when most people had written him off as a candidate for the highest government office and he then won the chancellorship for the SPD? Wouldn't it happen again if he was trusted? If only you gave him enough time? But time passed and the situation did not improve. The SPD has now slipped to 13 to 15 percent of the vote, making it sometimes only the fourth strongest force in the country. The “Chancellor Bonus” can do little to compensate for this. 81 percent of those surveyed are dissatisfied with Scholz's work, the lowest figure since such surveys began.
Germany has not chosen a pioneer to head the government: the Chancellor at an EU summit in Brussels
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Image: Reuters
Your own man is slowly taken into fire, albeit with small-caliber ammunition. The SPD leader in Baden-Württemberg, Andreas Stoch, recommended that the Chancellor “engage more in social dialogue before decisions such as the heating law or agricultural subsidies are made.” He should “take a closer look at his heart and explain better what was in favor and what was against it.” The SPD member of the Bundestag Axel Schäfer called for “to become more courageous in limiting migration and to accept the conflict with the Greens”. He added a bit patronizingly: “I’m absolutely sure: Olaf Scholz can do it.”
In the previous weeks, SPD state politicians had already distanced themselves from compliance with the debt brake and the subsidy cuts for farmers, two positions that the Chancellor had set. In order to release pressure from the party, Scholz faced a discussion in the group that lasted several hours. Almost nothing was leaked out, which documents the seriousness of the situation for Berlin interpreters. With some distance, the group now says that the MPs present “were not all satisfied with Olaf’s performance”.
No coup temperature yet
The atmosphere has not yet reached coup temperature, even though, according to media reports, people are already considering whether Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who is much more popular with the people, could be an alternative in the Chancellery. But confidence in the chancellor's miraculous powers is clearly dwindling. The social democratic ring that previously shielded Scholz from doubts has become porous. Because behind the (rather harmless) criticism of his “communication” or his overly gentle leadership style are sometimes more fundamental questions that have long been asked beyond social democracy: Does the façade of sovereign composure possibly cover up political helplessness or, worse still, a misunderstanding of realities ? Does Scholz, as CDU MP Norbert Röttgen puts it, “lack the ability to solve new questions”? In the end, are the Chancellor's often opaquely narrowed eyes not an expression of cunning but of a lack of insight?
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