He doesn't look like Merkel... How did Germany's situation get worse under Schulz?

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz succeeded Merkel after his party topped the 2021 election results (Reuters)

Berlin -

It is very difficult to find disagreement among the population of Germany regarding the low popularity of current Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The man who succeeded Angela Merkel failed to convince the Germans that he deserves to lead the strongest economy in Europe. If parliamentary elections were held these days, his party would easily lose first place, as he gave it The last Forsa Institute poll published at the end of January placed third, two percentage points behind the fourth-place finisher.

Schulz is described as having a cold face, to the point that he is described as “Schulzomat,” meaning the abbreviation of his name with the word “automatic” added to it. He lacks the talent for public speaking, and his speech in general does not attract much attention, to the point that there are those who consider him the most boring German advisor in its modern history. .

But the matter did not stop at the nature of his personality. Rather, his performance was also affected by the arrows of criticism, as he struggled to maintain a government divided by disagreements, and tried to persuade a public opinion that viewed with great suspicion the extent of the competence of the government and its advisor.

 He doesn't look like Merkel

Comparing Schulz to former Chancellor Merkel is very difficult, as he expected that he would not be as satisfied with him as he was with his predecessor, who served in the Chancellery for 16 years, and became a registered brand in the name of Germany thanks to her experiences, policies, and way of communicating, as well as her ability to overcome the crises that faced the country.

Schulz did not fulfill many of his promises, and his experience in government did not help him, as he was previously Deputy Chancellor Merkel and Minister of Finance in her last government. He was also Minister of Labor and Social Affairs in the first government led by the Iron Lady, and he was most famous for being elected mayor of the city of Hamburg.

Schulz owes the Social Democratic Party candidate's victory in the 2021 parliamentary elections to two main reasons. The first is that he took advantage of the weakness of his rivals, especially since the candidate of the conservative Christian Alliance (to which Merkel belongs) was Armin Laschet, who committed several mistakes, including appearing to laugh during the flood disaster that struck the West. Germany, as well as the discovery of plagiarism committed by him.

The other reason for Schulz's election was his successful policy at the head of the Ministry of Finance during the Corona period, when he provided financial support to those affected by the pandemic. During his term, Germany witnessed a rapid economic recovery for the country from the shock of the Corona repercussions, although he was not the only one who contributed to this achievement.

Schulz, accompanied by his Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who represents the Green Party allied with the Socialist Union in the government (Reuters)

Threatening the opposition

Now everything is different. There is a new leadership among the Christian conservatives that has become more popular than the leadership of the Social Democrats, while the shares of the populist right, represented by the Alternative for Germany party, are constantly rising. Ironically, Merkel's party and the Alternative for Germany party are currently topping the opinion polls.

What affected Olaf Schulz was not only the challenges he faced, but also those who formed the government with him. The Free Democratic Party achieved very poor results in several local elections, which made its members close to voting to leave the government, while the latter’s strict choices in the field of immigration led to And resorting to the decline in the popularity of the Green Party among a large part of its base, which saw it as a voice for these issues.

Therefore, there are those who believe that if the alliance between the Social Democrats and the conservative Christians had continued, as was the case in three previous governments between 2009 and 2021, the obstacles would have been less given that they represent the two major political forces in Germany since World War II.

Schulz has become unable to hide the differences between the components of the government, and the discord appeared in the budget crisis at the end of last year when the government was required to fill a financial gap after the Constitutional Court refused to transfer Corona response funds to the Climate Protection Fund.

The liberals demanded a reduction in spending on social assistance to solve the problem, which Schulz rejected, considering that the measure threatened the foundations of the social state.

On the other hand, Schulz wanted to borrow, but Germany has a unique law that puts brakes on debt, which means that the margin for maneuver is very small.

Then came the social protests to increase the pressure on the chancellor, and affected important sectors such as agriculture, health care, and transportation, while Schulz’s plans to facilitate the import of qualified workers from abroad were exposed to the country’s severe bureaucracy, which exacerbated the problems of several sectors suffering from a major shortage.

Support Ukraine

Schulz began his term decisively, pledging unprecedented military spending after Russia's war on Ukraine. He was also able to a large extent to confront the energy crisis that resulted from this war by finding new partners to supply Germany with gas to stop its dependency on Moscow.

Schulz announced an aid package directed to the population in Germany to combat inflation, including direct financial payments, reducing public transportation prices, curbing energy prices, and temporarily reducing taxes on fuel.

But the continuation of the war raised doubts about Schulz's strategy, as he provided military aid worth 17 billion euros until the end of 2023, making him the second largest military supporter of Ukraine after the United States.

The continuation of this aid means further exhaustion of the German economy, especially since Germany currently receives approximately 1.1 million Ukrainian refugees who receive direct aid that can reach each family of 4 people to 1,600 euros per month.

This is happening while opponents of increasing the armament of Ukraine constitute a majority in Germany, and there is no longer a willingness to accept new refugees from Ukraine as was the case previously, according to the “Munich Security Index 2024”.

Schulz (left) lost externally, and Germany's image in the south and the Arab world was cracked due to his support for Israel in its war on Gaza (Anatolia Agency)

Cracked image

Schulz did not lose much internally, as he blatantly sided with Israel in the war on Gaza, given that this bias prevails among most German parties and political elites. Indeed, even the extreme right is trying to use the card of attacking the Palestinians and Arabs for electoral gains.

But Schulz lost externally with regard to Germany's image in the south and in the Arab world, which is confirmed by German expert Michel Lueders, who previously told Al Jazeera Net that "Germany risks losing its reputation, not only in the Arab or Islamic world, but also among the countries of the south in general."

Germany began to bear the title of “the sick man” during the Schulz era, a title given to it by the “Economist” magazine in 1998 due to its major problems, and it reappeared again, as it faced major economic problems in its relationship with the outside world, especially since the Chinese dragon prevailed for the first time in history. Germany has one of its most famous exports, which are cars and their parts.

The expression "sick man" is rejected by Finance Minister Christian Lindner, but he emphasized at the World Economic Forum in Davos that Germany is a "tired man."

Germany needed major measures to solve part of its problems after the reunification of the two Germanys in 1990. Is it taking a similar path now? Many observers believe that the solution will not come with the current government, and that it will take years, during which Schulz will likely have left the position of chancellor.

Source: Al Jazeera