Countryman Remarque and fighter against COVID-19. Who is the new Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz

Social Democrat Olaf Scholz will be sworn in to replace Angela Merkel as chancellor, which she held for 16 years. Which dear most unemotional, but popular politician of the SPD came to power - in the material of RBC.

Olaf Scholz was born on June 14, 1958 in Osnabrück. This city in Lower Saxony is known as the birthplace of the German writer Erich Maria Remarque. The future chancellor comes from a working-class family, his grandfather was a railway worker, and his parents were employed in the textile industry. There are three children in the family, Scholz has younger brothers Jens and Ingo. The first became an anesthesiologist, since 2009 he has been the chairman of the board of the university hospital in Schleswig-Holstein, the second has achieved success in the it field. When Scholz was still a child, his family moved to the district of Hamburg-Rahlstedt, where he grew up. It is noteworthy that Scholz was baptized in a church in the Hamburg-Altona region, but he subsequently abandoned the Protestant faith. Thus, he became the first chancellor of Germany who does not belong to any of the confessions.

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In 1975, Scholz joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), he was 17 years old, he was still a high school student. The choice of the party was largely connected with the opinion of the parents - Scholz recalled how enthusiastically they spoke about the former chancellors of the Social Democrats Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt. In those years, Scholz perceived the latter as an example to follow. The young politician was a member of the youth association of the Jusos party (Jungsozialisten, "Young Socialists") and from 1982 to 1988 was deputy federal chairman of the association. Also for two years until 1989 he was vice-president of the International Union of Socialist Youth

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In 1984, the politician graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Hamburg, after which he devoted a year to public works. Since 1985, he began working as a lawyer, eventually becoming a partner in the firm Zimmermann, Scholz und Partner. Scholz specialized in labor law and during his tenure acted as an advocate for hundreds of people in cases of illegal dismissals. During the reunification of Germany, he acted as a consultant for many industrial associations.

Photo: AP Photo / Fabian Bimmer

In 1998, Scholz married fellow party member Britta Ernst, whom he met in a youth union. Like Scholz, she built a political career in the SPD from a young age and twice held ministerial posts at the state level. So, in 2017, she became the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports in Brandenburg, which is why Ernst and Scholz later moved to Potsdam. Since 2021, she has been the President of the Conference of Ministers of Education, which brings together the heads of all the relevant land departments of Germany. Scholz has repeatedly criticized the media for questions about his wife's political future after he becomes chancellor, and stressed that their marriage is based on equality. The couple has no children.

At the insistence of his wife, in 1998 Scholz ran for the Bundestag elections and since then has been repeatedly elected to the lower house of the German Parliament. Since 2001, he became a senator in Hamburg, at the same time entering the federal board of the SPD, and a year later he joined the supporters of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, taking the post of Secretary General of the Social Democrats. In 2004, after Schroeder's departure from the post of HEAD of the party, he also resigned, and a year later became the manager of the affairs of the SPD faction.

Photo: Axel Schmidt / REUTERS

By 2007, the politician, already nicknamed Scholzomat (Scholz + automatic) for his overly restrained and clear manner of speech, received a ministerial portfolio for the first time in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel. There he took up the post of Minister of Labor and Social Affairs. However, Scholz did not stay in this position for long: in 2009, the SPD had to go into opposition, and the politician had to take the place of the deputy chairman of the party, replacing Frank-Walter Steinmeier, now the president of Germany. In 2011, Scholz became the first burgomaster (mayor) of Hamburg.

Photo: Michaela Rehle / Reuters

In 2018, Scholz re-entered the Merkel government. He became Minister of Finance and Vice Chancellor - the second person in the Cabinet. During his tenure as minister, Scholz was able to become one of the most popular politicians in the country and the most popular spokesman for his party. He has gained a reputation as a professional and competent manager. It was he who developed measures to support business and the population of Germany during the CORONAVIRUS pandemic. At the international level, the politician is the initiator of the creation of the EU Recovery Fund

Photo: Axel Schmidt / AP

From February to April 2018, Scholz was acting chairman of the SPD, after Martin Schulz resigned. Andrea Nales, chairman of the SPD faction in the Bundestag, was nominated by the presidium to replace the new chairman. However, her candidacy was criticized by both the left and the conservative wing of the Social Democrats. As a result, she still managed to take this post, but a year later, Nales resigned.

Photo: Axel Schmidt / Reuters

After the resignation of Nales Scholz, he decided to compete for the chair of the party, nominating his candidacy in tandem with Clara Geivitz in 2019. They managed to defeat their rivals in the first round of voting, beating five competitors with a score of 22.7% of the vote. Nevertheless, in the second round they lost to the “leftist” duet of Zaskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans, gaining 45.3% of the votes of their fellow party members against 53.1%

Photo: Wolfgang Rattay / Reuters

Despite losing the fight for the presidency, on August 10, 2020, Scholz became the candidate for chancellor of the SPD. Thus, the Social Democrats were the first to announce who would lead the party to the 2021 parliamentary elections, a year ahead of their rivals. At that time, the rating of once one of the most popular popular parties did not exceed 15%, so few believed that Scholz had a chance to win. At the same time, the politician became the only candidate for chancellor of Germany who did not lead his own party.

Photo: Omer Messinger / Getty Images The mistakes of the rivals and a well-structured election campaign made Scholz the most popular candidate for chancellor by the summer of 2021. His personal rating had a direct impact on the position of the party and helped the Social Democrats get 10% more votes than in previous elections. On September 26, 2021, the SPD led by Scholz won the parliamentary elections with a score of 25.7%. The CDU/CSU bloc without Angela Merkel came in second, showing the worst result in history - 24.1% of the vote. The next day, Scholz announced his intention to create a "traffic light" coalition (according to party colors) with the Free Democratic Party and the Greens.