The Social Democratic Party has officially announced Olaf Scholz as a candidate for the position of Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, who will lead the party to the elections, particularly because of his balanced policy towards Ukraine.
Points of attention
- Olaf Scholz, the candidate for Chancellor of Germany, plans to support Ukraine in its struggle for freedom, democracy, and sovereignty.
- Scholz emphasizes the importance of not escalating the conflict and is against supplying Taurus missiles to Ukraine to avoid war with Russia.
- Parliamentary elections in Germany on February 23 will feature four candidates for the Chancellor position, including Scholz, Merz, Habeck, and Weidel.
- The political crisis in Germany could have a significant impact on the country's foreign policy, particularly in cooperation with Ukraine.
- The decision of the Social Democratic Party to nominate Scholz as the candidate for Chancellor highlights his experience, principles, and support for Ukraine.
Scholz is going to become chancellor of Germany again
The decision of the leadership of SPD was announced by party leader Saskia Essken on November 25 in Berlin.
Today, we unanimously nominated Olaf Scholz as our candidate for chancellor in the upcoming elections, Essken said and announced that the Social Democrats are thus entering the election campaign.
According to the party leadership, "Scholz is the right candidate for Germany in this particular situation," because the current head of government has "experience and principles" and does everything right.
Essken also called the chancellor's decision to fire her finance minister, the leader of the liberal party, Christian Lindner, correct.
In his speech, Scholz himself made a special emphasis on the topic of Ukraine, calling it the right decision to help Ukraine, to become the biggest supporter of Ukraine in Europe. He emphasized that his "government did everything so that Ukraine would not be left alone... And at the same time, it did everything so that the war would not expand."
We are the state that actually constantly supports Ukraine and does not leave it alone in the defensive struggle for freedom, democracy and sovereignty.
Olaf Scholz
Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
But at the same time, Scholz considers it correct not to allow Ukraine to strike with German weapons on the territory of the Russian Federation. In particular, we are talking about Taurus missiles.
The government under my leadership did everything to prevent this war from escalating even further and turning into a war between Russia and NATO. And that remains the central challenge right now... For all the discussions, it's always been important to me that we always make the right decisions, like when I said we're not going to hand over Taurus missiles, like when I said I don't agree that the weapons that we transferred were used to strike deep into the territory of Russia.
Parliamentary elections in Germany: what is known
Recent weeks in the SPD have been marked by public debate over whether to replace Scholz, whose popularity has waned amid the collapse of the ruling coalition, with the more popular defense minister Boris Pistorius. However, on November 21, Pistorius said he did not intend to run, paving the way for Scholz's unanimous support.
At the upcoming elections to the Bundestag, scheduled for February 23, four candidates for the position of chancellor will be presented for the first time. In addition to Scholz, it is Friedrich Merz from the CDU, Robert Habek from the Green Party and Alisa Weidel, whose candidacy the leadership of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) will officially approve on December 7.
At the beginning of November, the ruling coalition in Germany fell apart. This happened after Chancellor Scholz fired Finance Minister Christian Lindner (representative of the SPD party).
On November 8, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier handed over resignation documents to the ministers.
In response, Olaf Scholz declared his readiness to submit a vote of confidence in the government to the Bundestag. At the same time, German opposition parties are considering the possibility of creating a new coalition with the participation of Scholz's party, but without his personal participation.
Early elections in Germany can affect not only the country's domestic policy, but also its foreign policy positions, particularly in relations with Ukraine.
