He succeeded in imposing himself even though he is still little known to his people

Olaf Scholz, from “unpopular” candidate to German chancellor

Long unpopular with his Social Democrats, Olaf Scholz became the ninth chancellor of post-WWII Germany, succeeding Angela Merkel, thanks to his experience as a minister and local official and a flawless campaign.

The German parliament elected the 63-year-old former finance minister in Merkel's government, at the head of the largest European economic power, after an unexpected rise.

It was said a short time ago that his Social Democratic Party was dying, but it won the legislative elections that took place in September, and even succeeded in forming an unprecedented government coalition, with the Greens and the Liberals, without facing any obstacle.

Schulz is inspired by Merkel's smooth, bargaining style, even mimicking her in gestures, to the point that the left-wing newspaper Tatz described him as a "mutated" version of the German chancellor.

Schulz succeeded in establishing himself, although he is still unknown to many Germans themselves.

The chancellor's first biography was not published until last Monday in Germany, although he has so far held several ministerial positions, and was mayor of Hamburg, Germany's second city.

The embodiment of the boring politician

Schulz, described by the weekly magazine Der Spiegel as "the embodiment of the boring politician," has risen all the way up the ladder of public affairs since the 1970s.

Born in Osnabrück on June 14, 1958, his father was a merchant and his mother a housewife.

In 1975, at the age of seventeen, he joined the youth of the Social Democratic Party, and was more inclined to the leftist current of the party.

He participated in a large number of peaceful demonstrations.

In parallel, Schulz was pursuing his studies in law, and in 1985 he established a law firm specializing in labor law.

In the aftermath of German unification in 1990, he defended employees in a large number of cases, in cases of privatization or dissolution of companies in the former East Germany.

His career really took off when the Social Democrat Gerhard Schröder arrived at the Chancellery.

Schulz was elected MP in 1998, and became party secretary in 2002.

An annoying nickname

The Germans called him "Schultsumat", a combination of his name and a word meaning robot, because of his monotonous tone, which disturbed him.

In his defense of himself, he said, "I was always asked the same questions and always gave the same answers," stressing that he "laughs more than people think."

Finally, he told Die Zeit magazine, "I am sober, pragmatic and determined, but what motivated me to work in politics are feelings," calling for a "just society" in which "each person has good prospects in his individual life."

However, the liberalization of the labor market in a country considered at the time "the sick man of Europe" divided the German left, precipitating Schröder's defeat by Angela Merkel in 2005.

Schulz, whose wife Britta Ernst is also in politics and is the Education Minister of the Brandenburg region, became Minister of Labor in 2007 and mayor of Hamburg in 2011.

In the city, Schulz pursued an ambitious policy on social housing and early childhood, but he increased spending significantly in his city between 2011 and 2018.

successful return

As for the federal level, he remained committed to his principle, "We only give what we have."

In 2018, Schulz succeeded the Christian Democrat, Wolfgang Schäuble, as head of the Ministry of Finance, continuing the strict fiscal approach of his predecessor.

His centrist position contributed to his marginalization within his party, to the extent that activists excluded him from the party leadership in 2019.

Nevertheless, Schulz was able to return strongly in light of the outbreak of the "Covid-19" epidemic, as he did not hesitate to depart from his austerity policy to increase public spending in the face of the crisis.

Despite the setback of 2019, the Christian Democratic Party, one of the oldest European parties, chose Olaf Scholz to represent him, despite several issues that permeated his term in the Ministry of Finance.

Schulz's career actually began when Social Democrat Gerhard Schroeder reached the chancellery, was elected deputy in 1998, and became party secretary-general in 2002.

Schulz is inspired by Merkel's smooth and bargaining style, even imitating her in gestures, to the point that the newspaper "Tats" The left described him as a "transformed" version of the German chancellor.

Olaf, as a student, wanted to become a counsellor

BERLIN ■ dpa /

Gerhardt, father of Germany's new chancellor, Olaf Scholz, revealed that his son, at the age of 12, wanted to become a chancellor.

In the wake of Schulz's election as chancellor, his father said on the sidelines of Wednesday's parliament session that his son "set this goal for himself very early on when he was a student."

The father commented on his son’s election as a chancellor by saying that it represented him “a feeling of happiness.” He added that he once said to his son: “When I imagine that 63 years ago I was careful not to fall out of the wagon, and now you are sitting with the greats of the world, this It really is a wonderful thing.”

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