File image of newly-elected German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. News18
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated HE Olaf Scholz on being appointed as the new Federal Chancellor of Germany. Taking to his social media account, PM Modi expressed his delight at the latter’s victory and said he hoped to strengthen ties between India and Germany. He tweeted:
On 8 December, Olaf Scholz was appointed as Germany’s new Chancellor, marking the end of former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s 16 years in power.
The head of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Scholz won the secret vote in the Parliament yesterday with 395 votes to 303, according to the BBC. This big victory came after SPD’s narrow win in September’s federal elections. The German parliament backed the soft-spoken 63-year-old, formally appointing him as the ninth Federal Chancellor of the country.
Post the ceremonial protocols, Scholz walked up and gladly greeted German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who officially appointed Scholz as the country’s new Chancellor. Later during the day, the SPD leader was also sworn in at the Parliament. The rest of his ministers will soon be appointed, with SPD getting the defence, health and interior ministries in the coalition.
In the late 2000s, as per CNN, Scholz had served in Merkel’s first coalition government as the labour and social affairs minister. Then in 2011, he was again elected as the mayor of Hamburg; it is a position he held until 2018 with high levels of support.
From 2018, Scholz has served as the finance minister and the vice-chancellor in Merkel’s grand coalition government.
Furthermore, the new government in Germany has ambitious plans to fight climate change and focus on renewable energy. However, the priority of the newly-elected government will be to first tackle the coronavirus pandemic.