Olaf Scholz starts the summer interview on ARD – including some promises, evasive answers and curiosities.
Berlin – The summer interview season on ARD and ZDF starts before the summer break in the Bundestag. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) will start personally. On Sunday afternoon (July 2nd) he first answered viewer questions for the “Tagesschau”. He made a promise about basic child security, commented on the subject of pensions, defended himself against cum-ex allegations – and considered the wishes of Ukraine with small dampers.
Scholz in a question and answer session before the “summer interview”: promises about basic child security, pensions, officials
“The basic child security is coming,” Scholz assured ARD moderator Tina Hassel in the Youtube stream under the title “Ask yourself”. It was agreed that “we now want to quickly clarify with one another how this should be structured” – the plan should be in place by the end of the summer break.
Scholz also had to justify the schedule when it came to “climate money”. Furthermore, it is “not trivial” to create the technical requirements – i.e. to have account numbers of all citizens ready. “But we can do that now,” assured Scholz. However, Scholz did not say that the money provided for in the coalition agreement would actually come: “We will prepare this law so that we can do it if we want to make a decision of this kind.”
I lead and I do so in a democracy.
“I am against any further increase in the retirement age,” emphasized the Federal Chancellor. He also wants to stick to special rules, among other things for the pension scheme of civil servants. “It’s an old tradition in Germany that we have a different supply situation for those who are loyal to the state and carry out tasks there,” he said. “That still comes from the Prussian era.” It is therefore important that everyone feels “fairly treated” – even among civil servants there are people with very low salaries.
Ukraine war issue for Scholz: No weapons to reach Russian territory
“We have delivered a lot of tanks,” Scholz said when asked about further Leopard deliveries and possible long-range weapons for Ukraine: “And we’ll continue to do that.” The same applies to training measures or air defense, for example in the form of the Iris-T system. But there is one principle: “We do not want weapons that we supply to be used to reach Russian territory.”
There should be no unresolved border conflicts when joining NATO, said Scholz in response to calls for a clear prospect of membership at the approaching NATO summit in Vilnius. However, Germany feels responsible for enabling security guarantees. “Crimea has been part of Ukraine for a very, very long time,” stressed the Chancellor at the same time when asked a question. The future of the peninsula could become a crucial issue in the Ukraine war.
Scholz comments on the AfD: “Will not do much better than in the last election”
A subject of viewer questions were also the recent electoral successes of the AfD. “The AfD will not do much better than in the last election and this government will get a new mandate,” predicted the chancellor. Elsewhere in the question and answer session, Scholz mentioned three points to curb the electoral successes of the AfD. It must be clear that there is “a good future” for all citizens of the country. At the same time, “respect and cohesion” are necessary – as is “calmness”.
“We have agreed on the right projects, and now that we have discussed all the variants, we also have land in sight for the big projects,” said Scholz about the plans of the coalition agreement and the state of the traffic light coalition. “We have sailed across a rough ocean, but we can already see land and the seagulls are already flying over our ship,” he said. One or the other matter may have been “too complex” to know the right solution right away.
Scholz was also particularly relaxed in view of the cum-ex allegations from his time as Hamburg mayor that were still smoldering. “One thing kept coming out: There is nothing that can be blamed,” he said. “I’ll ask everyone what else they remember in their life that wasn’t as crucial or less crucial than the big decisions they made themselves, and I’m quite sure that what really matters is: What is there, at the charges?” The result “of all the investigations that have been carried out down to the smallest detail is: There was no interference,” explained Scholz. (fn)
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