One year traffic light government: Lots of ideology, little leadership

Created: 04.12.2022, 18:00

By: Georg Anastasiadis

In the Merkur commentary, Georg Anastasiadis evaluates the first year of the traffic light government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

© Mercury

Barely in office, the new traffic light government had to face the war and the difficult legacy of the previous government.

Not an easy start, but the coalition mainly has itself to blame for its declining popularity.

A commentary by Georg Anastasiadis.

Exaggerated self-doubt is not the Chancellor's thing.

In the testimonial that Olaf Scholz issued to his traffic light coalition on the first birthday, there were only words of praise.

Understandable: Berlin is governed by a “war government”, if you will.

She has her hands full sweeping up the mess created by Putin – and unfortunately also by the previous government.

In times of war, what is needed above all is leadership and pragmatism

That's going to be hard enough.

Because in times of war two things are needed above all: leadership and pragmatism.

The traffic light with its ideologically diverse parties lacks both.

Nowhere was this more visible than in the dispute over the continued use of nuclear power: for months the chancellor kept quiet about the bitter feud between the Greens and the FDP until he ended it with a formal compromise.

In truth, it was a victory of the ideologues over the pragmatists: In an existential crisis, Germany unnecessarily deprived itself of a proven energy source, to the delight of Putin and the evil Qataris (whom Interior Minister Faeser got even with wearing the One Love bandage!) .

Dealing with nuclear power is typical of the entire wrong turn of the traffic light in energy policy: instead of pushing down the market prices for electricity and gas by expanding the supply (nuclear, fracking), the traffic light devises ever more monstrous protective shields, price caps and subsidies to to avert mass bankruptcies of households and businesses.

And Climate Minister Habeck now wants to saddle up many more billions in aid for companies that produce with renewables.

Who should pay for the march to this planned eco-economy?

Ideologue against pragmatism also in migration

It doesn't look any better in another theater of war, migration: while Putin's criminal rocket terror is driving the Ukrainians out of their country, the traffic light is making no discernible effort to at least reduce the once again threateningly swelling poverty migration across the Balkans;

the SPD and the Greens prefer to throw new passports around.

Meanwhile, the desperate mayors and district administrators have to confiscate gymnasiums again, as they did in 2015.

More important to the government than order at the borders is not having to dismount from the moral high horse saddled by the previous chancellor.

Ideology before pragmatism here too.

And again no dying word from who-leadership-orders-gets-leadership-chancellor.

If it's any consolation: The balance sheet of the former chancellor, who was appointed by the CDU, a year after leaving office, is not in much better shape.

But on the contrary.