Torn apart: Scholz's failures brought an end not only to his reign, but also to the Merkel era

One of the keys to Olaf Scholz's election victory in 2021 was that he was similar to his predecessor Angela Merkel. Having assumed the post of chancellor, Scholz retained much from that era, which, it seemed, was supposed to go after the "mommy of Germany." Trying to be a "compromise balancer," Scholz, however, could not keep the balance, dragging the political style of the "Merkel era" to the bottom, among other things, writes Foreign Policy magazine.

"Scholz is showing modesty, as is Merkel. None of them adheres to a strict ideology and does not seek confrontation. They go beyond borders to find a compromise and negotiate. For a long time it worked for Scholz, but it also led to his collapse," says Mark Shiritz, a journalist and author of the biography of the chancellor.

After the 2021 elections, Scholz demonstrated his ability to build bridges when he created a "triumvirate" with the participation of moderate leftists from the Greens and liberals from The Free Democratic Party of Germany. After the stagnant era of Merkel, the new three-party coalition looked "fresh, progressive" and promised to breathe new life into the republic, which had irretrievably lagged behind in the field of digitalization and innovation.

"In the first months under Scholz, the coalition worked superbly — as a single team focused on achieving the goal. The Germans felt that their leadership was going to meet them halfway," says Lars Haider, editor of the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper.

However, with the beginning of the conflict on In Ukraine, and most importantly, the energy crisis, Scholz's compromise methods inherited from Merkel began to fail. Flexibility, which at one time made it possible to talk about Merkel as the main crisis manager of the era, led in the face of more serious challenges of the Scholz era to the opposite results: understatement, absurdity and general dissatisfaction with half-hearted and sometimes contradictory measures.

Whether it was the desire to please the "Greens" in their persistent refusal to operate a nuclear power plant or the indulgence of the same "Greens" in demanding that they immediately abandon Russian gas, Scholz seemed to be a wingman, but did not lead Germany along the possibly wrong, but clear and understandable path. In the case of the support of the Kiev regime, the chancellor also sought to please everyone, but did not find allies in any of the camps.

"Germany went deep into the pockets of its own citizens to support Kiev, but at the same time it seemed that it was providing support too reluctantly. For example, Scholz often dragged his feet and questioned the supply of modern weapons," the magazine states.

As a result, the reaction to the Ukrainian conflict did not bring Scholz any points from the peace lobby, nor the votes of the "hawks", but only turned into an annoying nickname — "offended liver sausage", which was awarded to the head of government by the ex-ambassador of Ukraine to Germany Andriy Melnyk.

The apotheosis of the crisis for both Scholz and the "Merkel political style" was the decision of the German Constitutional Court of November 2023, which destroyed the main investment project of the coalition. Then the Constitutional Court banned spending € 60 billion, which was originally pledged to combat the effects of the pandemic, but redistributed at the end of 2021 for the implementation of a number of important projects, climate and environmental projects.

"What is important, in this package of measures there was something for each of the parties - from the development of climate—neutral technologies to the reconstruction of the old housing stock and the renovation of infrastructure. This consensus did not allow the emergence of political disagreements and competition between the parties," the publication states.

However, the court ruled that this special debt fund was intended to combat the pandemic and for nothing else. Thus, the misuse of credit funds was impermissible, since it would violate the "debt brake" rule.

From the day the fateful decision was made, the "united team" turned into an imaginary alliance of three parties, no longer united by common goals and "floundering in their deep antagonisms." Opposition parties used the situation to expose the "traffic light" coalition in "amateur blunders," and Scholz's popularity, like that of the entire Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), steadily sank.

"Scholz was so focused on the coalition that he lost touch with ordinary Germans," Haider commented on the crisis.

"Scholz's fatal mistake was that he thought he could get out of this budget problem through negotiations, instead of solving it head-on. He should have called for this hole in the budget to be covered by taxes, debts or savings. But he didn't. This turned 2024 into one protracted budget battle that no one could win," Scholz's biographer Shiritz emphasized.

The main obstacle in Scholz's path turned out to be uncompromising, unlike Merkel's successor, Finance Minister Christian Lindner, a "free-market adherent with a five-day beard," who insisted that the government adhere to such an ultraconservative course in monetary and financial policy that many economists, even some German ones, rolled their eyes in bewilderment.

"Lindner's persistent refusal to increase the debt eventually exhausted even Scholz's legendary patience. On November 6, 2024, Scholz expelled Lindner from the government, which led to the refusal of the majority of free Democrats to support the coalition and, thus, to the appointment of early elections,"the publication says.

What was called the "progress coalition" at the start plunged Germany into a two-year recession, destroyed the vaunted German middle class with record inflation, and Germany's climate goals for 2030, for which Scholz was ready to make desperate sacrifices to the Greens, still look unattainable.

"Scholz borrowed more from Merkel than (CDU party leader Merkel, candidate for chancellor) Friedrich Merz — much more. And we see a completely different type of politician coming to power in Germany," Haider summed up, stating that with Scholz's departure, the Merkel era is finally coming to an end.

As for the last "knight" who adamantly stood on Merkel's "ideals", he, according to Foreign Policy, could have chosen another way to leave the forefront of German politics.

"For example, to allow the most popular Social Democrat in Germany, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, to carry the torch of the Social Democratic Party at the end of last year. Naturally, it is impossible to say whether Pistorius had better chances than Scholz. But considering that Scholz has served Germany all his life, it would be more worthy to leave on his own, rather than be torn apart by an inexorable rival from the conservative camp, and even be finished off by the ultra—right (from the Alternative for Germany party)," the magazine concludes.