Angela wished success to her successor Olaf Scholz
In Berlin, a solemn ceremony of seeing off Angela Merkel from the post of Federal Chancellor was held in the courtyard of the German Ministry of Defense. The event was held in a limited format due to the coronavirus. About 200 people were present, in particular, more than 50 former ministers who held key positions in the governments that Merkel headed during her 16 years of rule. And next week a new Bundeskanzler will be appointed in Germany — and the country will enter a new era.
Photo: AP
On Thursday evening, the Bundeswehr held a traditional solemn ceremony called “The Big Evening Dawn” (“Der Große Zapfenstreich”). Angela Merkel, the outgoing German Chancellor, made a speech to the military. After that, the servicemen staged a torchlight procession and performed music.
At the request of the outgoing head of government, along with the Christian anthem of the XVIII century “Great God, we praise you”, the composition “For me it will rain red roses” by actress Hildegard Knef and the hit of the 1970s by the cult punk rocker from the former GDR Nina Hagen “You forgot the color film” were also performed.;(«Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen»). According to Merkel herself, the last song reminds her of her youth. Moreover, according to Deutsche Welle, this composition “hails” not just from East Germany, but from the electoral district in the land of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, from which Merkel was repeatedly elected to the Bundestag.
In a short speech, Merkel thanked the Germans and urged them to be optimistic about the future of their country. The outgoing head of the German government did not miss the opportunity to thank those who are fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily doctors and volunteers.
“This afternoon I held a meeting with the prime ministers of the federal lands on coronavirus, and now, a few hours later, in this solemn atmosphere, after 16 years as chancellor, I say goodbye to you,” she said. – Circumstances show what a special time we live in. These 16 years as head of government have been full of events. They were a challenge for me as a politician and as a person. However, it was thanks to them that I felt realized.
Merkel wished her successor Olaf Scholz, who is due to take the oath next week, “an easy hand and great success.”
It is expected that the leader of the Social Democrats (SPD), Olaf Scholz, will be officially elected Chancellor of Germany on December 8 and will take the oath of office on the same day. It is then that it will finally be possible to talk about the end of the Merkel era that lasted 16 years.
On the eve of the transfer of power, Angela Merkel tried to ensure its orderly transition. She took Olaf Scholz with her to the G20 summit in Rome in October, where he even took part in key meetings, including with the President of the United States Joe Biden. The head of the SPD played an important role in the negotiations on the adoption of restrictive measures by Germany against the background of another surge in the incidence of COVID-19. Despite the fact that the “replacement” represents a party competing with the Conservatives, Merkel declared that she could “sleep peacefully” by handing over the post of chancellor to Scholz.
Recall that at the end of November, the Social Democrats who took first place in the parliamentary elections and the Greens and the Free Democrats who joined them agreed to form a new ruling coalition, which received the unofficial name traffic light (according to the colors of its political forces: «red» Social Democrats, «yellow » from the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and «green» from the Union 90 party/«Green»).
The 177-page coalition agreement presented on November 24 was the result of negotiations between 22 working groups, which for a month and a half tried to find common ground on key issues of domestic and foreign policy.
After the inter-party agreement on the coalition agreement, the stage came when this document was put to the vote in the participating parties. According to SPD leader Olaf Scholz, the parties hope that the agreement will be approved in the next ten days.
If we compare the time between the parliamentary elections and the formation of a new cabinet in Germany, then this year it was possible to agree on a government coalition quite quickly: between the elections on September 26 and the election of a new chancellor scheduled for December 8, the distance is only 73 days. And after the parliamentary elections in September 2017, about six months passed before a coalition government of the CDU/CSU and the Social Democrats was finally formed in March 2018.
In the future cabinet, the Social Democratic party members of Chancellor Olaf Scholz will receive six ministries, the Greens will get five ministerial portfolios, and the Free Democrats will get four. In principle, this reflects the results obtained by the parties in the September Bundestag elections (the Social Democrats scored more than 25 percent, the Greens just under 15%, and the FDP 11.5%).
The Social Democrats, in particular, receive the posts of Minister of Defense, heads of the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Health. The SPD representative is also assigned the leadership of the Ministry of Economic Development.
The Greens, among other things, receive a very important post of foreign minister (and we are talking about Annalena Berbok, known for her harsh criticism of Russia).
According to the results of the coalition negotiations, the Free Democrats gain control over the Ministry of Finance (in the last Merkel government, this department was headed, by the way, by Olaf Scholz), and will also be responsible for justice, transport, digital technologies and education.