Olaf Scholz is now officially the chancellor-elect of Germany and the successor to Angela Merkel, who ruled Germany for 16 years, BBC reported on Wednesday, 24 November.
He will head a three-party coalition that will involve:
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (his own party)
Free Democratic Party
Green Party of Germany
Scholz, nicknamed as the Scholzomat for his boring and mechanical behaviour, led Germany's oldest existing political party in the 2021 federal elections.
The SPD hadn't emerged as the single-largest party in a Bundestag election since being led to victory by Gerhard Schröder in 2002.
But now Scholz and the SPD were able to win 206 seats and 25.7 percent of the total vote share, 5.2 percent more than the 2017 elections.
The coalition agreement between the SPD, FDP, and the Greens is big on climate protection, with a target of 2030 to phase out use of coal.
The previous deadline was 2038.
The coalition also plans to legalise the controlled sale of cannabis in licensed premises.
SPD had promised to raise the national minimum wage to €12 an hour during their election campaigning. That promise is expected to be fulfilled.
However, a wealth tax that would tax the über rich, supported by the SPD and the Greens, was not accepted by the pro-business FDP.
On foreign policy, Scholz said that the "sovereignty of Europe is a cornerstone of our foreign policy".
The agreement asserts that Germany must be Europe’s "anchor of stability".
The most serious challenge to Germany right now however, is the rise in COVID-19 infections.
The coalition has refused to announce a new health minister for the moment.
(With inputs from BBC and The Guardian.)
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