Olaf Scholz

German politician (SPD) and 9th Federal Chancellor of Germany (since 2021)

Olaf Scholz (German pronunciation: [ˈoːlaf ˈʃɔlts]; born (1958-06-14)14 June 1958) is a German politician, and has been Chancellor of Germany since 8 December 2021. He was First Mayor of Hamburg from 7 March 2011 to 13 March 2018. From 2018 until 2021, Scholz was the Vice Chancellor of Germany and Federal Minister of Finance during the Angela Merkel cabinet.

Olaf Scholz

Scholz in July 2023
Chancellor of Germany
Assumed office
8 December 2021
President
Vice Chancellor
Preceded byAngela Merkel
Vice Chancellor of Germany
In office
14 March 2018 – 8 December 2021
ChancellorAngela Merkel
Preceded bySigmar Gabriel
Succeeded byRobert Habeck
Federal Minister of Finance
In office
14 March 2018 – 8 December 2021
ChancellorAngela Merkel
Preceded byWolfgang Schäuble
Succeeded byChristian Lindner
First Mayor of Hamburg
In office
7 March 2011 – 13 March 2018
Second MayorDorothee Stapelfeldt
Katharina Fegebank
Preceded byChristoph Ahlhaus
Succeeded byPeter Tschentscher
Early political career
2001–2009
Federal Minister for Labour and Social Affairs
In office
21 November 2007 – 27 October 2009
ChancellorAngela Merkel
Preceded byFranz Müntefering
Succeeded byFranz Josef Jung
Chief Whip of the Social Democratic Party
In office
13 October 2005 – 21 November 2007
LeaderPeter Struck
Preceded byWilhelm Schmidt
Succeeded byThomas Oppermann
General Secretary of the Social Democratic Party
In office
20 October 2002 – 21 March 2004
LeaderGerhard Schröder
Preceded byFranz Müntefering
Succeeded byKlaus Uwe Benneter
Senator for the Interior of Hamburg
In office
30 May 2001 – 31 October 2001
First MayorOrtwin Runde
Preceded byHartmuth Wrocklage
Succeeded byRonald Schill
Parliamentary constituencies
Member of the German Bundestag
for Potsdam – Potsdam-Mittelmark II – Teltow-Fläming II
Assumed office
26 October 2021
Preceded byManja Schüle (2019)
Member of the German Bundestag
for Hamburg Altona
In office
17 October 2002 – 11 March 2011
Preceded byHimself (2001)
Succeeded byIngo Egloff
In office
26 October 1998 – 6 June 2001
Preceded byMarliese Dobberthien
Succeeded byHimself (2002)
ConstituencyHamburg Altona
Member of the Hamburg Parliament
In office
2 March 2015 – 2 March 2015
Preceded byHimself (2011)
ConstituencySocial Democratic list
In office
7 March 2011 – 7 March 2011
Preceded bymulti-member district
Succeeded byAndrea Rugbarth
ConstituencySocial Democratic list
Personal details
Born (1958-06-14) 14 June 1958 (age 65)
Osnabrück, West Germany
Political partySocial Democratic Party
Spouse(s)
ResidenceOld Market Square, Potsdam
Alma materUniversity of Hamburg
Occupation
  • Politician
  • lawyer
  • cooperative syndic
Signature
Websiteolaf-scholz.spd.de

Early life change

Scholz was born on June 14, 1958, in Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, but grew up Hamburg's Rahlstedt district.[1] He began studying law at the University of Hamburg in 1978 as part of a one-stage legal training course.[2]

Hamburg and national politics change

From May to October 2001, he was Minister of the Interior (Innensenator) of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and from 2002 to 2004 he was general secretary of the SPD.

In 2005 Scholz was elected a member of the sixteenth Bundestag, and succeeded Franz Müntefering as Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, when the latter left office in 2007.[3]

In 2010, Scholz took part in the annual Bilderberg Meeting in Sitges, Catalonia, Spain.[4]

On 20 February 2011, the Social Democrats led by Scholz won the Hamburg state election, 2011 with 48.3% of the votes, resulting in 62 out of 121 seats in the Hamburg Parliament.[5] Scholz resigned as a member of the seventeenth Bundestag on 11 March 2011 shortly after his election as First Mayor.

Merkel cabinet change

After the 2017 federal election, the CDU, CSU and SPD agreed to continue a 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. He also took the role of Vice-Chancellor of Germany under Angela Merkel.[6] Within his first months in office, Scholz became one of Germany's most popular politicians, reaching an approval rating of 50 percent.[7]

Chancellor of Germany change

2021 federal election change

On August 10, 2020, the SPD party executive nominated him as its chancellor candidate for the 2021 federal election in Germany. Scholz led the SPD to a narrow victory in the election, winning 25.8% of the vote and 206 seats in the Bundestag.[8]

On 8 December 2021, Scholz was elected and sworn-in as Chancellor by the Bundestag with 395 votes in favour and 303 against.[9] At 63 years, 177 days of age, Scholz is the oldest person to become Chancellor of Germany since Ludwig Erhard who was 66 years, 255 days old when he assumed office on 17 October 1963.

Tenure change

During his campaign in the 2021 election, Scholz was against forcing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. However, since the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant began to rise in late November 2021, he supported a vaccine mandate, including closure of non-essential retail stores to unvaccinated adults and a vaccine mandate for adults.[10][11][12][13][14]

Personal life change

Scholz is married to SPD politician Britta Ernst since 1998. The couple live in Potsdam since 2018.[15]

References change

  1. Cliffe, Jeremy (3 September 2021). "How Olaf Scholz and the SPD could lead Germany's next government". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 24 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  2. Schindler, Fabian (21 March 2011). "Stades Bürgermeister verkündet seinen Abschied". Hamburger Abendblatt (in German). Archived from the original on 7 August 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  3. Andreas Cremer and Brian Parkin, "Muentefering, Vice-Chancellor Under Merkel, Quits", Bloomberg.com, 13 November 2007.
  4. "Official Bilderberg Meeting Website". Archived from the original on 2010-06-17. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
  5. "AICGS Coverage of the 2011 Land Elections". Archived from the original on 2011-03-16. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
  6. NDR. "Nachrichten aus Hamburg". www.ndr.de. Archived from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  7. Michael Nienaber (29 May 2018), Germany's 'miserly' Scholz irks comrades at home and abroad Archived 29 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine Reuters.
  8. CNN, Frederik Pleitgen, Salma Abdelaziz, Nadine Schmidt, Stephanie Halasz and Laura Smith-Spark. "SPD wins most seats in Germany's landmark election, preliminary official results show". CNN. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 2021-09-27. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. Bennhold, Katrin (8 December 2021). "Germany Live Updates: Parliament Approves Scholz as Chancellor, Ending Merkel Era". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  10. "2G und Impfen: Das sind die neuen Maßnahmen" [2G and vaccination: these are the new measures]. ZDF (in German). 2 December 2021. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  11. "Wegen Omikron: Bald auch strengere Corona-Regeln für Geimpfte" [Because of Omicron: Stricter corona rules soon also for vaccinated]. NDR (in German). 24 December 2021. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  12. "Corona-Gipfel: Olaf Scholz will jetzt drastisch reagieren" [Corona Summit: Olaf Scholz wants to react dramatically]. T-Online (in German). 2 December 2021. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  13. "Olaf Scholz für generelle Corona-Impfpflicht und 2G im Einzelhandel" [Olaf Scholz for general corona vaccinations and 2G in retail]. RND (in German). 30 November 2021. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  14. "Nächster Corona-Hammer droht: Scholz will 2G-Pflicht beim Einkaufen" [Nearest Corona Hammer threatens: Scholz wants 2G duty when shopping]. Merkur.de (in German). 1 December 2021. Archived from the original on 26 December 2021. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  15. Ildiko Röd (25 June 2018), Vizekanzler ist Neu-Potsdamer Archived 21 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine Märkische Allgemeine.