He just hiked with his wife Britta Ernst in the Allgäu to the 1575 meter high Alpspitz.

Then on Friday, in the middle of his vacation, the Chancellor gave a press conference in Berlin that had been scheduled at short notice.

From Nesselwang, where Olaf Scholz has rented a holiday home, it is only around 720 kilometers or a seven-hour drive to the Chancellery in Berlin.

Nevertheless, it is unusual for a head of government to interrupt his vacation.

Markus Wehner

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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The reason for this was that the federal government decided to save the struggling energy company Uniper by having the federal government take a 30 percent stake in the company - the gas supplier was of "outstanding importance" for ensuring that the Germans continued to be supplied with sufficient energy.

Scholz did not promise that Germans would be spared from digging deeper into their pockets for energy in the near future.

But he used the appearance to make a general promise to the nation: "No citizen will be left alone with his problems," including "no company."

The state will "do what is necessary and for as long as it is necessary".

Scholz promises relief

Scholz, who struggles with pathos in public appearances and had previously left the dramatic appeals to tighten your belt to the Green Ministers Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock, at least tried an English quote for his message: "You'll never walk alone .” It is the chorus of the world's most famous football anthem, sung at Liverpool FC stadium and from there spread to other stadiums in Britain and arenas outside the British Isles.

The Chancellor practically translated the lyrics of the song in the course of his introductory speech, even if he didn't use words like storm and darkness.

But he said: "Nobody will have to go into the future alone." Scholz listed what the federal government had done to relieve the citizens in view of the energy and price crisis caused by Russia's war: the increased basic allowance and the increased commuter allowance Children's bonuses up to the prettied up basic security.

"We agree that we will bring further relief on a permanent basis," promised the chancellor and specifically named a housing benefit reform at the beginning of next year, which is intended to benefit pensioners and students in particular with an increased flat-rate for heating costs, as well as the citizen's allowance that “definitely” will come on January 1, 2023 and should benefit from the recipient of the basic security.

The promise that Scholz made in his vacation press conference was reminiscent of at least two similar appearances in past times of crisis.

On October 5, 2008, a Sunday, Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared before the press together with the then Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück.

At that time it was about the crisis of the company Hypo Real Estate and about securing the institute, reassuring bank customers and preventing investors from fleeing.

“We tell savers that their deposits are safe.

The federal government is also responsible for this,” said Merkel.

The audience on Friday was also reminded of a speech given by a man almost exactly ten years ago who is in the limelight today in a different capacity: Mario Draghi, who has just resigned as Italian head of government, held the position on July 26, 2012 the European Central Bank (ECB) in which he promised that the bank would do everything to preserve the euro.

The phrase "whatever it takes" has since become a catchphrase for a determination to do whatever it takes to overcome political and economic crises.

At a press conference in March 2020, as finance minister, Scholz used the term "bazooka" already used by Draghi - actually an American anti-tank weapon - to make it clear that everything possible would be done to overcome the corona crisis.

As then, Scholz promised again that citizens who could not pay their bills in the crisis should be protected from dismissals.

Scholz expressed skepticism about Russia's gas supplies, which are also flowing again to a limited extent via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

The technical difficulties claimed by Russia are pretexts.

After all, there are three functioning gas pipelines through which Russia could fully meet its delivery obligations.

Nord Stream 2 is not needed for this.

It is a "remarkable message" from Moscow that the reliability of gas flows can no longer be guaranteed after decades.

"That's why we prefer to play it safe." That Germany is following this course of security with a view to the country, the economy and the individual citizen: that was the message that the Chancellor wanted to get rid of on vacation.