Looking into the abyss: What could be behind Olaf Scholz's verbal refusal to work on the edge of the G7 summit

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Election poster for the 2021 federal election: Respect for you?

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Revierfoto / imago images

Climate club founded!

Oil price cap built!

Billions raised against hunger!

The gathering of the world's most powerful pro-democracy advocates at the G7 summit in Elmau has delivered remarkable results.

And a surprising look behind the harmless-looking Grinsekater façade of the German chancellor.

At the final press conference, journalist Rosalia Romaniec wanted to know whether Olaf Scholz would be able to put the promised security guarantees for Ukraine into concrete terms.

Scholz answered with a monotonous: "Yes." Then he decided to take a dramaturgically quite skilful artistic break before he pushed "I could" afterwards.

Coughing in the audience, mischievous smiles at the lectern.

Then the chancellor finally put it in more concrete terms: "That's it."

No answer is also an answer, they say.

In fact, there are several possible interpretations of Scholz's verbal refusal to work.

It could be, for example, that the chancellor had to go to the toilet and therefore decided not to give a lengthy and evasive answer to a question that had been asked shortly before.

As a political correspondent who has lost a lot of her life deciphering meaningless politicians' boxed sentences, Scholz's tight-lippedness could be welcomed as the courage to speak plain language.

However, Scholz would have been even bolder if he had admitted that security guarantees for Ukraine are currently only available in the subjunctive, i.e. in reality there may never be any.

Could it be that the chancellor simply lied?

Could one even say that Olaf Scholz is the most arrogant chancellor in the history of the Federal Republic?

Could it be that his demands for more respect shortly before the general election were nothing more than a successful election campaign gag?

Could Scholz's chancellor campaign have been about Hanseatic humor that Germany outside of Hamburg misunderstood as a political offer on an equal footing?

Could Scholz' appearance even have been a demonstration of callousness, hardness and aggressiveness?

In the end, it doesn't really matter what drove Scholz to mock a journalist in front of the cameras.

He may consider himself witty, quick-witted and smarter than everyone else put together anyway, but in fact his appearance, as a clip that has now been distributed thousands of times on social media, is primarily embarrassing.

So that's how the many new Chancellor presents himself to the global audience?

Is that his way of dealing with a woman who's just doing her job?

Olaf Scholz could appear much more confident, more human, warmer, more binding.

could he?

Maybe he just can't.