Olaf Scholz

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"Scholz" redirects here. For other uses, see Scholz (disambiguation).
Olaf Scholz
MdB
File:Olaf Scholz 2021 cropped.jpg
Scholz in 2021
Chancellor of Germany
Assumed office
8 December 2021
President <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Vice Chancellor <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Preceded by Angela Merkel
Vice Chancellor of Germany
In office
14 March 2018 – 8 December 2021
Chancellor Angela Merkel
Preceded by Sigmar Gabriel
Succeeded by Robert Habeck
Minister of Finance
In office
14 March 2018 – 8 December 2021
Chancellor Angela Merkel
Preceded by Wolfgang Schäuble
Succeeded by Christian Lindner
First Mayor of Hamburg
In office
7 March 2011 – 13 March 2018
Second Mayor Dorothee Stapelfeldt
Katharina Fegebank
Preceded by Christoph Ahlhaus
Succeeded by Peter Tschentscher
Early political career
2001–2009
Minister for Labour and Social Affairs
In office
21 November 2007 – 27 October 2009
Chancellor Angela Merkel
Preceded by Franz Müntefering
Succeeded by Franz Josef Jung
Chief Whip of the Social Democratic Party
In office
13 October 2005 – 21 November 2007
Leader Peter Struck
Preceded by Wilhelm Schmidt
Succeeded by Thomas Oppermann
General Secretary of the Social Democratic Party
In office
20 October 2002 – 21 March 2004
Leader Gerhard Schröder
Preceded by Franz Müntefering
Succeeded by Klaus Uwe Benneter
Senator for the Interior of Hamburg
In office
30 May 2001 – 31 October 2001
First Mayor Ortwin Runde
Preceded by Hartmuth Wrocklage
Succeeded by Ronald Schill
Parliamentary constituencies
Member of the Bundestag
for Potsdam – Potsdam-Mittelmark II – Teltow-Fläming II
Assumed office
26 October 2021
Preceded by Manja Schüle (2019)
Member of the Bundestag
for Hamburg Altona
In office
17 October 2002 – 11 March 2011
Preceded by Himself (2001)
Succeeded by Ingo Egloff
In office
26 October 1998 – 6 June 2001
Preceded by Marliese Dobberthien
Succeeded by Himself (2002)
Constituency Hamburg Altona
Member of the Hamburg Parliament
In office
2 March 2015 – 2 March 2015
Preceded by Himself (2011)
Constituency Social Democratic list
In office
7 March 2011 – 7 March 2011
Preceded by multi-member district
Succeeded by Andrea Rugbarth
Constituency Social Democratic list
Personal details
Born (1958-06-14) 14 June 1958 (age 65)
Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, West Germany
Political party Social Democratic Party
Spouse(s) <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Residence Old Market Square, Potsdam
Alma mater University of Hamburg
Occupation
  • Politician
  • lawyer
  • cooperative syndic
Signature Olaf Scholz's signature
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Olaf Scholz (German: [ˈoːlaf ˈʃɔlts] ( listen); born (1958-06-14)14 June 1958) is a German politician serving as the Chancellor of Germany since 8 December 2021. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as Vice Chancellor of Germany under Angela Merkel and as Federal Minister of Finance from 2018 to 2021. He was also First Mayor of Hamburg from 2011 to 2018 and deputy leader of the SPD from 2009 to 2019. Following the 2021 German federal election, Scholz's federal government is a traffic light coalition composed of his SPD, the Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP).

Scholz is a lawyer specialising in labour and employment law. He became a member of the SPD in the 1970s and was a member of the Bundestag from 1998 to 2011. He served in the Hamburg Government under First Mayor Ortwin Runde in 2001, before his election as General Secretary of the SPD in 2002, serving alongside SPD leader and then-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. He became his party's Chief Whip in the Bundestag, later entering the First Merkel Government in 2007 as Minister of Labour and Social Affairs. After the SPD quit the Government following the 2009 election, he returned to lead the SPD in Hamburg, and was elected Deputy Leader of the SPD. He led his party to victory in the 2011 Hamburg state election, and became First Mayor, holding that position until 2018.

After the SPD entered the Fourth Merkel Government in 2018, Scholz was appointed as both Minister of Finance and Vice Chancellor of Germany. In 2020, he was nominated as the SPD's candidate for Chancellor of Germany for the 2021 federal election. The party won a plurality of seats in the Bundestag and formed a coalition with the Greens and the FDP. On 8 December 2021, Scholz was elected and sworn in as Chancellor by the Bundestag.

Early life and education

Scholz was born on 14 June 1958, in Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, but grew up in Hamburg's Rahlstedt district.[1] His parents worked in the textile industry.[2] He has two younger brothers, Jens Scholz, an anesthesiologist and CEO of the University Medical Center Schleswig Holstein;[3] and Ingo Scholz, a tech entrepreneur. Olaf Scholz attended the Bekassinenau elementary school in Oldenfelde but then switched to the Großlohering elementary school in Großlohe. After graduating from high school in 1977, he began studying law at the University of Hamburg in 1978 as part of a one-stage legal training course.[4] He later found employment as a lawyer specialising in labour and employment law.[5] Scholz joined the Social Democratic Party at the age of 17.[1]

Scholz's family is traditionally Lutheran and he was baptized in the Evangelical Church in Germany; he holds largely secular views and left the Church in adulthood, but has called for appreciation of the country's Christian heritage and culture.[6]

Political career

Early political career

Young socialist, 1975–1989

File:Olaf Scholz 1984.jpg
Scholz at the Young Socialists Congress, 1984

Scholz joined the SPD in 1975 as a student, where he got involved with the Jusos, the youth organization of the SPD. From 1982 to 1988, he was Deputy Federal Juso Chairman, and from 1987 to 1989 also Vice President of the International Union of Socialist Youth. He supported the Freudenberger Kreis, the Marxist wing of the Juso university groups, promoting "overcoming the capitalist economy" in articles.[7] In it, Scholz criticized the "aggressive-imperialist NATO", the Federal Republic as the "European stronghold of big business" and the social-liberal coalition, which puts the "bare maintenance of power above any form of substantive dispute".[8] On 4 January 1984, Scholz and other Juso leaders met in the GDR with Egon Krenz, the secretary of the Central Committee of the SED and member of the Politburo of the SED-Central Committee, Herbert Häber. In 1987, Scholz crossed the inner-German border again and stood up for disarmament agreements as Juso-Vice at an FDJ peace rally in Wittenberg.[9]

Member of the Bundestag, 1998–2001

A former vice president of the International Union of Socialist Youth, Scholz was first elected to represent Hamburg Altona in the Bundestag in 1998, aged 40.[10] In the committee of inquiry into the visa affair of the Bundestag, he was chairman of the SPD parliamentary group.[11]

Senator for the Interior of Hamburg, 2001

On 30 May 2001, Scholz succeeded the resigned Senator for the Interior of Hamburg, Hartmuth Wrocklage, in the Senate of Hamburg led by Mayor Ortwin Runde. During his brief time as Senator, he controversially approved the forced use of emetics to gather evidence from suspected drug dealers.[12] The Hamburg Medical Chamber expressed disapproval of this practice due to potential health risks.[13] He left office in October 2001, after the defeat of his party at the 2001 Hamburg state election and the election of Ole von Beust as First Mayor. His successor was Ronald Schill.[14][15]

Member of the Bundestag, 2002–2011

Scholz was elected again to the Bundestag in the 2002 German federal election. From 2002 to 2004, Scholz also served as General Secretary of the SPD; he resigned from that office when party leader and Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, facing disaffection within his own party and hampered by persistently low public approval ratings, announced he would step down as Leader of the Social Democratic Party.[16]

Scholz was one of a series of politicians who sparked debate over the German journalistic norm of allowing interviewees to "authorize" and amend quotes before publication, after his press team insisted on heavily rewriting an interview with Die Tageszeitung in 2003.[17][18] Editor Bascha Mika condemned the behavior as a "betrayal of the claim to a free press" and the newspaper ultimately published the interview with Scholz's answers blacked out.[19][20]

Scholz served as the SPD spokesperson on the inquiry committee investigating the German Visa Affair in 2005. Following the federal election later that year, he served as First Parliamentary Secretary of the SPD Bundestag Group, becoming Chief Whip of the Social Democratic Party. In this capacity, he worked closely with the CDU Chief Whip Norbert Röttgen to manage and defend the grand coalition led by Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Bundestag.[21] He also served as a member of the Parliamentary Oversight Panel, which provides parliamentary oversight of the German intelligence services; the BND, MAD and BfV.[22]

Scholz resigned from his Bundestag mandate on 10 March 2011, three days after he had been elected as First Mayor of Hamburg.[23]

Federal and state political career

Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, 2007–2009

In 2007, Scholz joined the Merkel Government, succeeding Franz Müntefering as Minister of Labour and Social Affairs.[24][25]

Following the 2009 federal election, when the SPD left the Government, Scholz was elected as Deputy Leader of the SPD, replacing Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Between 2009 and 2011, he was also a member of the SPD group's Afghanistan/Pakistan Task Force.[26] In 2010, he participated in the annual Bilderberg Meeting in Sitges, Spain.[27]

First Mayor of Hamburg, 2011–2018

File:Olaf Scholz IMG 4886 edit.jpg
Scholz in March 2011, on the government benches in the Hamburg Parliament, shortly after his election as First Mayor

In 2011, Scholz was the lead SPD candidate at the Hamburg state election, which the SPD won with 48.3 per cent of the votes, taking 62 of 121 seats in the Hamburg Parliament.[28] Scholz resigned as a Member of the Bundestag on 11 March 2011, days after his formal election as First Mayor of Hamburg; Dorothee Stapelfeldt, also a Social Democrat, was appointed his Deputy First Mayor.[29][30][31]

In his capacity as First Mayor, Scholz represented Hamburg and Germany internationally. On 7 June 2011, Scholz attended the state dinner hosted by President Barack Obama in honor of Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House.[32] As host of Hamburg's annual St. Matthias' Day banquet for the city's civic and business leaders, he invited several high-ranking guests of honour to the city, including Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault of France (2013), Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom (2016), and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada (2017).[33] From 2015 until 2018, he also served as Commissioner of the Federal Republic of Germany for Cultural Affairs under the Treaty on Franco-German Cooperation.[34]

File:Cumbre de Líderes del G20. Día 2 (35796382395).jpg
Scholz and the spouses of the heads of state and government at the G20 in Hamburg, 2017

In 2013, Scholz opposed a public initiative aiming at a complete buyback of energy grids that the city of Hamburg had sold to utilities Vattenfall Europe AG and E.ON decades before; he argued this would overburden the city, whose debt stood at more than 20 billion euros at the time.[35]

Scholz was asked to participate in exploratory talks between the CDU, CSU and SPD parties to form a coalition government following the 2013 federal election.[36] In the subsequent negotiations, he led the SPD delegation in the financial policy working group; his co-chair from the CDU/CSU was Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble.[37] Alongside fellow Social Democrats Jörg Asmussen and Thomas Oppermann, Scholz was reported in the media to be a possible successor to Schäuble in the post of Finance Minister at the time; whilst Schäuble remained in post, the talks to form a coalition were ultimately successful.[38]

In a paper compiled in late 2014, Scholz and Schäuble proposed redirecting revenue from the so-called solidarity surcharge on income and corporate tax (Solidaritätszuschlag) to subsidize the federal states’ interest payments.[39]

Under Scholz's leadership, the Social Democrats won the 2015 state election in Hamburg, receiving around 47 per cent of the vote.[40] He formed a coalition government with the Green Party, with Green leader Katharina Fegebank serving as Deputy First Mayor.[41][42]

File:Olaf Scholz - Global Citizen Festival Hamburg 03.jpg
Scholz speaking at the Global Citizen Festival 2017 in Hamburg

In 2015, Scholz led Hamburg's bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics with an estimated budget of 11.2 billion euros ($12.6 billion), competing against Los Angeles, Paris, Rome, and Budapest; the citizens of Hamburg, however, later rejected the city's candidacy in a referendum, with more than half voting against the project.[43][44] Later that year, Scholz – alongside Minister-President Torsten Albig of Schleswig-Holstein – negotiated a debt-restructuring deal with the European Commission that allowed the German regional lender HSH Nordbank to offload 6.2 billion euros in troubled assets – mainly non-performing ship loans – onto its government majority owners and avoid being shut down, saving around 2,500 jobs.[45]

In 2017, Scholz received criticism over his handling of riots that took place during the G20 summit in Hamburg.[5]

Scholz has been criticized in November and December 2021 for emerging details about his handling of the CumEx tax fraud at M. M. Warburg & Co. when he was the mayor of Hamburg.[46][47]

Vice Chancellor and Minister of Finance, 2018–2021

File:2018-03-12 Unterzeichnung des Koalitionsvertrages der 19. Wahlperiode des Bundestages by Sandro Halank–003.jpg
Scholz (SPD), Angela Merkel (CDU) and Horst Seehofer (CSU) presenting the 2018 coalition agreement for Germany's fourth Merkel cabinet.

After a lengthy period of government formation following the 2017 federal election, during which the CDU, CSU and SPD agreed to continue in coalition, Scholz was accepted by all parties as Federal Minister of Finance. Scholz was sworn in alongside the rest of the Government on 14 March 2018, also taking the role of Vice Chancellor of Germany under Angela Merkel.[48] Within his first months in office, Scholz became one of Germany's most popular politicians, reaching an approval rating of 50 per cent.[49]

In 2019, Scholz ran for leader of the SPD, but lost to Norbert Walter-Borjans.[50]

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, Scholz drafted a series of unprecedented rescue packages for the country's economy, including a 130 billion euro stimulus package in June 2020, which thanks to generous lifelines for businesses and freelancers, as well as a decision to keep factories open, avoided mass layoffs and weathered the crisis better than neighbours such as Italy and France.[51][52] Scholz also oversaw the implementation of the Next Generation EU, the European Union's 750 billion euro recovery fund to support member states hit by the pandemic, including the decision to spend 90 per cent of the 28 billion euros for Germany on climate protection and digitalization.[53]

File:Mateusz Morawiecki spotkał się z kanclerzem-elektem Niemiec Olafem Scholzem w Berlinie (2021.11.25) 3.jpg
Scholz and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in Berlin, 25 November 2021

With France, Scholz drove efforts to introduce a global corporate minimum tax and new tax rules for tech giants.[54][55]

At the G7 summit in June 2021, the G7 agreed on a worldwide minimum tax proposed by Scholz of at least 15 per cent for multinational companies. The main reason why all G7 member states were in favour was that Scholz was able to convince US President Joe Biden, unlike his predecessor Donald Trump, of the minimum taxation.[56] Also in June 2021, Scholz had the Federal Central Tax Office purchase information about potential tax evaders from Dubai. It is data from millions of German taxpayers and contains information on assets hidden from the tax authorities in Dubai. The data should serve to uncover cross-border tax offenses on a significant scale.[57]

Scholz is criticized in the context of the bankruptcy of the payment service provider Wirecard, as there have been serious misconduct by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).[58] Critics complain that the Federal Ministry of Finance is responsible for monitoring BaFin.[59] During Scholz's time in office, the Ministry of Finance was one of the subjects of parliamentary inquiry into the so-called Wirecard scandal, in the process of which Scholz denied any responsibility[60][61] but replaced regulator BaFin's president Felix Hufeld and vowed to strengthen financial market supervision.[62][63]

Candidate for party co-leadership, 2019

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Main article: 2019 Social Democratic Party of Germany leadership election

In June 2019, Scholz initially ruled out a candidacy for the party co-leadership following the resignation of Andrea Nahles. He explained that a simultaneous activity as Federal Minister of Finance and leader was “not possible in terms of time”.[64][65][66] In August Scholz announced that he wanted to run for party chairmanship in a duo with Klara Geywitz.[67][68] He justified this with the fact that many of those he considered suitable did not run for office and a resulting responsibility.[69] The team of Klara Geywitz and Olaf Scholz received after the first round of the membership decision on October 26, 2019, with 22.7 percent, the highest share of the six candidate duos standing for election. It qualified for the runoff election with the second-placed team Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans, which received 21.0 percent of the vote.[70]

On November 30, 2019, it was announced that Esken and Walter-Borjans had received 53.1 percent of the vote in the runoff election, Geywitz and Scholz only 45.3 percent.[71] This was seen as an upset victory for the left-wing of the SPD, including skeptics of the grand coalition with the CDU. Esken and Walter-Borjans were little-known to the public at large, Esken being a backbencher in the Bundestag and Walter-Borjans being the former Minister of Finance of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2010 to 2017. Scholz on the other hand had the backing of much of the party establishment.

Chancellor candidate, 2021

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See also: 2021 German federal election
File:2021-08-21 Olaf Scholz 0309.JPG
Scholz at an election campaign event

On 10 August 2020, the SPD party executive agreed that it would nominate Scholz to be the party's candidate for Chancellor of Germany at the 2021 federal election.[72] Scholz belongs to the centrist wing of the SPD,[73] and his nomination was seen by Die Tageszeitung as marking the decline of the party's left.[74] Scholz led the SPD to a narrow victory in the election, winning 25.8 per cent of the vote and 206 seats in the Bundestag.[75] Following this victory, he was widely considered to be the most likely next Chancellor of Germany in a so-called traffic light coalition with The Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP).[76] On 24 November, the SPD, Green and FDP reached a coalition agreement with Scholz as the new German chancellor.[77]

Chancellor of Germany (2021–present)

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Main article: Scholz cabinet
200px
Chancellorship of Olaf Scholz
8 December 2021 –
Chancellor Olaf Scholz
Cabinet <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Party Social Democratic Party
Election
Appointer
Nominator Bundestag
Seat <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
File:Sánchez se reunió con el nuevo canciller alemán Olaf Scholz en La Moncloa 20220117 (1).jpg
Scholz with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, 17 January 2022

Scholz was elected Chancellor by the Bundestag on 8 December 2021, with 395 votes in favour and 303 against.[78] His new government was appointed on the same day by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.[79] At Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. of age, Scholz is the oldest person to become Chancellor of Germany since Ludwig Erhard who was Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. old when he assumed office on 17 October 1963.

Scholz came to Warsaw in December 2021 for talks with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. They discussed the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which would bring Russian gas under the Baltic Sea to Germany bypassing Poland, and Poland's dispute with the EU over the rule of law and the superiority of European Union law. Scholz backed Poland's efforts to stop the flow of migrants seeking entry from Belarus.[80]

During his campaign in the 2021 election, Scholz opposed a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. However, since late November 2021, he has expressed support for mandatory vaccination for adults, scheduled to be voted during the first months of 2022 by the federal parliament, and for the closure of non-essential retail stores to unvaccinated adults, based on the so-called 2G-Regel, decreed by state governments in December 2021.[81][82][83][84][85]

Political views

Within the SPD, Scholz is widely viewed as being from the moderate wing of the party.[5] Because of his consistent and mechanical-sounding choice of words in press conferences and interviews, Scholz was nicknamed as "the Scholzomat" by the media. In 2013 he said that he found the attribution "very appropriate".[86][87]

After the 2017 federal election, Scholz was publicly critical of party leader Martin Schulz’s strategy and messaging, releasing a paper titled "No excuses! Answer new questions for the future! Clear principles!" With his proposals for reforming the party, he was widely interpreted to position himself as a potential challenger or successor to Schulz within the SPD. In the weeks after his party first started weighing a return to government, Scholz urged compromise and was one of the SPD members more inclined toward another grand coalition.[88]

In January 2019, Scholz had primarily seen China as an economic partner.[89] He tried to persuade Chinese Vice Premier Liu He that China should be more open to German firms.[90]

In October 2019, Scholz condemned the Turkish invasion of the Kurdish-controlled northeastern areas of Syria, otherwise known as Rojava.[91]

Economic and financial policy

File:Steven Mnuchin and Olaf Scholz at 2018 G7 Finance Meeting.jpg
Scholz and US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, 1 June 2018

Scholz has been campaigning for a financial transaction tax for several years. Experts criticized parts of his plans because they believed that it would primarily affect small shareholders.[92][93][94][95] In December 2019, he pushed the introduction of this tax at European Union level. According to the draft, share purchases should be taxed when it comes to shares in companies that are worth at least one billion euros.[96] Journalist Hermann-Josef Tenhagen criticized this version of the transaction tax because the underlying idea of taxing the wealthy more heavily was in fact turned into the opposite.[97] A report by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy commissioned by the Federal Government in 2020 certified the same deficiencies in the tax concept that Tenhagen had already pointed out.[98]

Since taking office as minister of finance, Scholz has been committed to a continued goal of no new debt and limited public spending.[49] In 2018, he suggested the creation of a European Union-wide unemployment insurance system to make the Eurozone more resilient to future economic shocks.[99]

Environment and climate policy

In September 2019, Scholz negotiated the climate package in a key role for the SPD. To this he said: "What we have presented is a great achievement", whereas climate scientists almost unanimously criticized the result as insufficient.[100][101][102][103][104]

In August 2020, Scholz held a phone call with US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, discussing a lift of US sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. In exchange, Scholz offered 1 billion euros in subsidies to liquid gas terminals in northern Germany for US liquid gas imports.[105][106][107] The move has sparked controversy about the SPD's stance towards renewable energy.[108][109]

The revised Climate Protection Act introduced by Olaf Scholz's cabinet as Mayor of Hamburg provides for a 65 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030, an 88 per cent reduction by 2040 and climate neutrality by 2045.[110]

Scholz called for the expansion of renewable energy to replace fossil fuels.[111] In May 2021, Scholz proposed the establishment of an international climate club, which should serve to develop common minimum standards for climate policy measures and a coordinated approach. In addition, uniform rules for the carbon accounting of goods should apply among members.[112]

As part of the coalition agreement that led to Scholtz becoming chancellor, the Social Democrats, Free Democrats, and Green parties agreed to accelerate Germany's phaseout of coal to the year 2030, in line with the target set by the Powering Past Coal Alliance. The country's previous target had been to end the use of coal by 2038. In addition, the agreement set a phaseout of power generation from natural gas by 2040. The agreement also included provisions for the prohibition on natural gas heating in new buildings and replacement of natural gas systems in existing buildings. An end to the sale of combustion vehicles would come in 2035, in line with the target set by the European Commission.[113]

Relationship with the United States

File:President Joe Biden welcomes Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany to the White House.jpg
Scholz meets with US President Joe Biden at the White House, 7 February 2022

In December 2019, Scholz criticized the US legislation imposing sanctions on Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany, saying: "Such sanctions are a serious interference in the internal affairs of Germany and Europe and their sovereignty."[114]

In regards to the relationship with the United States, Scholz agrees with a longstanding agreement that allows American tactical nuclear weapons to be stored and manned on American bases in Germany.[115][116]

Scholz called the US "Europe's closest and most important partner." Upon assuming the chancellorship in December 2021, he stated he would soon be meeting with President Joe Biden, saying "It is now clear what binds us together."[116]

File:Putin-Scholz meeting.jpg
Scholz and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on 15 February 2022

In January 2022, the New York Times reported intensifying concerns from the US and other NATO allies about the Scholz government's "evident hesitation to take forceful measures" against Russia in the Russo-Ukrainian tensions.[117] The Scholz government has refused to send weapons to Ukraine, citing existing German financial support for the Eastern European country.[118]

Relationship with Poland

In December 2021, Scholz rejected the Polish government's claim for further World War II reparations.[119] According to the German government, there is no legal basis for further compensation payments.[120] In a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki Scholz said: "We have concluded treaties that are valid and have settled the past issues and the compensation".[120] Scholz also pointed out that Germany "continues to be willing to pay very, very high contributions to the EU budget", from which Poland has benefited considerably since its accession to the EU.[120] As a consequence of aggression by Nazi Germany, Poland lost about a fifth of its population and much of Poland was subjected to enormous destruction of its industry and infrastructure.[121][122]

Other activities

International organizations

Corporate boards

  • KfW, ex-officio member of the Board of Supervisory Directors (2018–2021)[128]
  • RAG-Stiftung, ex-officio member of the board of trustees (2018–2021)[129]
  • HafenCity Hamburg GmbH, ex-officio chairman of the supervisory board (−2018)[citation needed]

Non-profits

Personal life

Olaf Scholz is married to fellow SPD politician Britta Ernst. The couple lived in Hamburg's Altona district before moving to Potsdam in 2018.[134]

Scholz was raised in the mainstream Protestant Evangelical Church in Germany, but he later left it.[135] At his inauguration as Chancellor in 2021, Scholz took the oath of office without a reference to God (the second Chancellor to do so after Gerhard Schröder) and is the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany to not belong to a Church.[136]

See also

References

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  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Richard Bernstein (7 February 2004), [1] Archived 13 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine New York Times.
  17. ↑ Moritz Schuller (7 September 2003), The right to revise Archived 8 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine The Guardian
  18. ↑ Ben Knight (19 January 2016), Time to end interview authorization in Germany? Archived 23 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine Deutsche Welle
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Sebastian Fischer (13 November 2007), Müntefering Resignation: Merkel Loses 'Mr. Grand Coalition' Archived 16 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine Spiegel Online.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Andreas Cremer and Brian Parkin, "Muentefering, Vice-Chancellor Under Merkel, Quits" Archived 25 May 2012 at archive.today, Bloomberg.com, 13 November 2007.
  25. ↑ "Merkel defends record as Germany's tense governing coalition hits 2-year mark", Associated Press, 21 November 2007.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Expected Attendees at Tonight's State Dinner Archived 19 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine Office of the First Lady of the United States, press release of 7 June 2011.
  33. ↑ Josh Wingrove (17 February 2017), Trudeau Stresses Fair Wages, Tax Compliance in Warning to Europe Archived 18 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine Bloomberg News.
  34. ↑ Scholz Bevollmächtigter für deutsch-französische Kulturzusammenarbeit Archived 12 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine Die Welt, 21 January 2015.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Archived 29 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine
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  44. ↑ Karolos Grohmann (29 November 2015), Hamburg drops 2024 Games bid after referendum defeat Archived 25 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine Reuters.
  45. ↑ Arno Schuetze and Foo Yun Chee (27 May 2015), HSH Nordbank strikes rescue deal with EU Archived 12 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine Reuters.
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  53. ↑ Holger Hansen, Thomas Leigh and Sabine Siebold (27 April 2021), Germany to spend 90% of EU recovery money on green, digital goals Archived 24 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine Reuters.
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  62. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Archived 24 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine
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  64. ↑ Scholz schließt im Juni noch SPD-Vorsitz aus. In: ZDF.de. 16. August 2019. (in der ARD-Sendung „Anne Will“).
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  72. ↑ Erika Solomon (10 August 2020), German Social Democrats pick Olaf Scholz to run for chancellor Archived 24 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine Financial Times.
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  86. ↑ Brost, M., & P. Dausend: Olaf Scholz: Ich war der „Scholzomat“. Archived 27 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine In: Zeit 26/2013.
  87. ↑ The discreet charm of the Scholzomat Archived 25 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine In: Zeit, 26 September 2021.
  88. ↑ Emily Schultheis (5 January 2018), 8 key players in Germany's coalition talks Archived 8 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine Politico Europe.
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  99. ↑ Myriam Rivet and Michael Nienaber (10 June 2018), France, Germany still split on eurozone reforms, French official says Archived 12 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine Reuters.
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  123. ↑ Board of Governors Archived 28 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
  124. ↑ Board of Governors Archived 16 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine European Investment Bank (EIB).
  125. ↑ Board of Governors: Olaf Scholz European Stability Mechanism.
  126. ↑ Board of Governors Archived 29 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
  127. ↑ Members Archived 11 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine International Monetary Fund (IMF).
  128. ↑ Board of Supervisory Directors and its Committees Archived 16 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine KfW.
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  131. ↑ Senate Archived 18 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Deutsche Nationalstiftung.
  132. ↑ Members Archived 29 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES).
  133. ↑ Study Groups, Discussion Groups and Task Forces Archived 1 July 2016 at the Wayback Machine German Council on Foreign Relations.
  134. ↑ Ildiko Röd (25 June 2018), Vizekanzler ist Neu-Potsdamer Archived 21 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine Märkische Allgemeine.
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External links

Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons
Quotations related to Olaf Scholz at Wikiquote

Party political offices
Preceded by General Secretary of the Social Democratic Party
2002–2004		 Succeeded by
Klaus Uwe Benneter
Preceded by Deputy Leader of the Social Democratic Party
2009–2019		 Succeeded by
Hubertus Heil
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
2007–2009		 Succeeded by
Franz Josef Jung
Preceded by First Mayor of Hamburg
2011–2018		 Succeeded by
Peter Tschentscher
Preceded by Vice-Chancellor of Germany
2018–2021		 Succeeded by
Robert Habeck
Preceded by Minister of Finance
2018–2021		 Succeeded by
Christian Lindner
Preceded by Chancellor of Germany
2021–present		 Incumbent
Order of precedence
Preceded by as President of the Bundestag Order of precedence of Germany
as Chancellor		 Succeeded by
Bodo Ramelow
as President of the Bundesrat

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Template:Social Democratic Party of Germany

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