Without a tie and with the collar of his shirt unbuttoned, Olaf Scholz launched his campaign, on Monday, November 25, at the Willy-Brandt-Haus, headquarters of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in Berlin, in front of an audience. of journalists. The outgoing chancellor who, at 66, is “cooler” that his rival Friedrich Merz, president of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), 69, had been designated just a few hours earlier as a candidate by the party authorities, at the end of a brief and silent internal competition that had affected political headlines .
In fact, some activists and some SPD figures have continued to advocate, since late summer, for a candidacy of the Minister of Defense, Boris Pistorius, who is more popular among public opinion, before he claims not to run in the elections. chancellor, in a video published on Thursday, November 21. To put a definitive end to the protest and convey an image of unity, Boris Pistorius, with whom the chancellor said she was “friend for a long, long time”, He was also present on Monday at the launch conference. However, he did not speak.
Olaf Scholz must still be officially confirmed at the party congress to be held on January 11, 2025 in Berlin. For him, time is running out, as he must lead a lightning campaign while still leading a now minority government, unable to approve the 2025 budget in the Bundestag. The legislative elections were brought forward more than six months after the chancellor dismissed his finance minister, the liberal Christian Lindner, on November 6, breaking the tripartite coalition he had led since 2021.
In economic recession
Although he repeats that he does not give any credibility to the polls, Olaf Scholz faces this deadline with very unfavorable forecasts, which the withdrawal of Boris Pistorius has not improved at all. The SPD peaks at around 14% of voting intentions, compared to 32% for the conservatives of the CDU-CSU and almost 20% for the AfD, the far-right party.
The deterioration of the economic situation, although it has its origin in structural difficulties in Germany, harms the outgoing coalition, which faces its second year of economic recession and an increase in corporate restructuring announcements: during the press conference, the Germany’s largest steel producer Thyssenkrupp Steel announced 5,000 job cuts. This is already one of the angles of attack of the CDU-CSU against the current government.
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