German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said he intends to once again become the Social Democratic Party of Germany’s (SPD) top candidate for chancellor in the 2025 Bundestag elections. The head of government made this statement in an interview published today, September 7, in the Tagesspiegel newspaper.
“I firmly believe that the SPD and I can build up such strong support in 2025 that we will be able to lead the next federal government again. My goal in next year’s Bundestag elections is an SPD-led government.” – said Scholz.
Asked whether Scholz is prepared to give up his chancellor ambitions in favour of a defence minister more popular with voters. Boris PistoriusThe Prime Minister replied that Pistorius, like many other SPD politicians, also supports his re-election for a second term.
At the same time, Scholz refrained from commenting on the historically low level of support for the current governing coalition under his leadership, as well as its unpopularity among the electorate. As the Chancellor stressed, he had long since decided that he would “never comment on polls.”
“I take note of them, but basing policy on poll results is not a good idea. I have already won several elections during my political career, even though the polls did not indicate this. I gain confidence from experiences like this.” – he pointed out.
Meanwhile, the defeat of the government coalition parties, namely the SPD, the Greens and the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP), in the recent state elections in Saxony and Thuringia has further weakened the position of the ruling trio at federal level.
According to the ARD television channel’s political trends barometer, only 16 percent of German citizens said they were “satisfied” or “happy” with the work of the Scholz government, while around 84 percent of those surveyed expressed the opposite opinion.
Scholz’s popularity also continues to decline, with his approval rating falling six percentage points to 18% over the past month.
In comparison, the former German SPD chancellor’s lowest rating Gerhard Schröder During the seven years of his reign it was 24%, and the worst rating Angela Merkel during her 16 years as head of the German government: 40%.
However, according to Scholz, the responsibility for this level of approval does not lie with him, but with the entire federal government with its controversial “political style”.
“The government must accept criticism that many decisions were accompanied by bitter disputes in society. Sometimes, because of the smoke from the guns, it was impossible to understand what was really being decided. However, many of these solutions were innovative.” – Scholz is convinced.
The German Chancellor also blamed the German media, which she believes do not cover government work “adequately”. According to her, German citizens are rarely told what political debates really consist of.
“Too often, it is simply reported: Who is doing what? Who is behaving badly? Who looks beautiful or uses particularly clever language? But here we are not filming a new episode of a television show. It is about politics.” – he summarized.
Previously EADaily reported that the results of the elections to the state parliaments of Saxony and Thuringia in eastern Germany demonstrated the fear of German citizens of being drawn into a “big war” in Europe.
