Where to, Mr. Scholz?

The chancellor is playing a dangerous game with relief for everyone

Created: 08/12/2022, 10:18 am

By: Jens Kiffmeier

Relief for everyone?

Yes, of course!

Chancellor Scholz makes promises that are too big in the gas crisis - and thus raises doubts about his leadership.

A comment.

Berlin - The FDP says Hü, the Greens say Hott - and the SPD mostly Hü and Hott: In the gas crisis, the traffic light coalition shows little unity.

Olaf Scholz (SPD) was asked at his summer press conference whether he would also bang on the table.

The chancellor tried it with a casual saying: Well, he said, he's not going to send any letters with a word of power to the ministers.

But that is exactly the mistake.

Because in the current situation, a lot more leadership from Zauderer Scholz is needed.

But despite months of criticism, the head of government still hasn't understood that, according to a comment on kreiszeitung.de.

Olaf Scholz (SPD): Chancellor wrongly promises relief for everyone at the federal press conference

When he appeared before the federal press conference, Olaf Scholz (SPD) was deliberately calm.

Sober and factual, as one is used to from the chancellor, he reported on the measures taken so far in the energy crisis.

His central message: do not be afraid.

Nobody is left alone.

Don't panic, that makes sense.

Nevertheless, what one can expect from a chancellor is not enough.

Does the face match the crisis?

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) promises a new relief package at his summer press conference.

© Kay Nietfeld/dpa

The crisis is huge.

Much more powerful than the financial crises of earlier years, which apparently left the Germans untouched.

This time things get serious, namely when low earners or families can no longer pay for the weekly shop or the apartment stays cold in winter.

But despite all the efforts to find a new relief package, the state will not be able to cushion all impositions.

Because the money in the treasury is getting tighter and tighter.

Not only since the corona pandemic and two subsequent relief packages has the country piled up a mountain of debt that younger generations will have to laboriously pay off for decades.

New relief package: Chancellor Scholz must tame Lindner and the coalition partners

Nevertheless, Scholz with his traffic light men and traffic light women continues to promise everyone everything: The FDP around Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) can include the top earners in the tax relief law.

The Greens and the SPD are getting a new relief package to do something good for low earners and small and medium-sized businesses.

Sure, and the pensioners get something too.

In the end, nobody should complain.

He has the feeling that this could work - although there are many measures in the room, Scholz said on Thursday and acts like a fish seller at the market who, as a nice gesture, throws an extra herring into the customer's bag at the end.

For that good mood feeling.

But why all this?

So that the colorful coalition does not fly apart.

In fact, Scholz sees himself as a moderator from the start.

Only under difficult conditions did the three parties from two different camps come together to form a coalition.

Scholz wants to give them room to breathe, everyone should be allowed to send their messages to their own clientele, especially Lindner, who seems like a caricature to many.

In the end, you agree on a face-saving compromise for everyone.

That's why he deliberately lets the arguments run their course.

Lindner's tax relief law contains social explosives - but Scholz downplays it at the press conference

In normal times, the principle could have worked.

But times are not normal in Germany.

But seriously.

It is extremely important that the coalition speaks with one voice.

For many Germans, the picture is otherwise much too diffuse.

What will a low earner think in the end when the Greens and FDP have been bickering for days about the relief of millionaires - and the tax relief law is passed?

That's right, those up there, who continue to roar down the street in their SUV and shop at the delicatessen, get money from the state.

Additional 100 euro lump sums then only seem like peanuts to minimum wage earners.

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Politicians must help in the crisis.

But only to those who can no longer afford the everyday things in life – food, electricity, fuel.

A social-democratic chancellor has to convey that.

And energetically.

Public.

FDP here, FDP here.

Because otherwise frustration spreads.

The danger that the frustration can quickly turn into anger and protest is real and should not be downplayed by Scholz.

Scholz must finally break through the watering can principle, according to which his coalition pours out a few good deeds on all Germans.

So far he has done nothing in this regard.

But he should grab pen and paper very quickly and write a letter to his ministers with the message: This is the way to go.