Be Humble, Olaf Scholz — Sit Down

-OpEd-

BERLIN — Olaf Scholz, the Chancellor of Germany, stands at the precipice of his political career — and contradicts himself to the very last moment.

Just a few months ago, in September, he brushed off the notion of a vote of confidence as a distant scenario, calling it “a little idea the opposition has.” Now, less than three months later, he finds himself at the Bundestag podium, witnessing the collapse of his government.

This is the ultimate downfall of a leader who has squandered the trust of his electorate, yet still tries to carry on as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened. Scholz rushes through his speech, delivering his words like a checklist. Instead of reflecting on the gravity of this historic moment or taking a critical look at his administration’s shortcomings, he pivots into campaign mode — far too prematurely.

“We owe the citizens decency,” he says, as if it wasn’t his government that lacked decency. Or: “It’s high time to invest powerfully and decisively in Germany,” as though he weren’t the one presiding over the very administration that failed to act decisively.

Listening to him, you might think Scholz was an opposition leader commenting on Germany’s political shortcomings, rather than the man at the helm.

Hear nothing, see nothing

The last Social Democrat to hold the office, Gerhard Schröder, knew how to take tactical advantage of a vote of confidence to regroup party ranks (although he lost the gamble himself in 2005). Scholz doesn’t have a clue: he’s always been too eager to lead this government coalition to some form of success — even if success only meant reaching the end of the legal legislative period.

And yet, he failed to reach even that one objective: the Bundestag has withdrawn its confidence in him and his government will now clear the way for new elections.

The unwillingness to learn from his mistakes is precisely why Scholz has failed

Politically, he had no choice but to take these steps: co-operation with his finance minister Christian Lindner and the neoliberal Free Democrats Party (FDP) had become impossible. But the truth is that at least part of this collapse lies squarely on Scholz’s shoulders.

Yet the outgoing Chancellor doesn’t want to hear anything about that. Even when his so-called “traffic-light” coalition looked stable, the Social Democrat repeatedly made headlines for his incorrigibility and lack of vision. Now, in his confidence-vote speech, he was pointing fingers in every direction except his own: at the former coalition partner FDP, at the difficult budget situation, at the war in Ukraine, at the missed investments in infrastructure in previous decades — not during his chancellorship, of course.

This unwillingness to learn from his mistakes is precisely why Scholz has failed as Chancellor. In an era where forming majorities is increasingly difficult, a lack of self-awareness is a fatal flaw. Leading a multi-party coalition requires compromise, adaptability, and a willingness to listen: traits Scholz has repeatedly failed to demonstrate. Whether it was the debate over sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine or his party’s cornerstone social policies, stubbornness is simply not what you need to lead a multi-party government.

After Merkel 

This attitude is consistent with the fact that at the moment of the vote of confidence, the Social Democrat did not speak to the members of the Bundestag, whose trust was actually at stake at that moment, but directly to the voters.

“It was not always easy to implement a policy of respect in this government,” Scholz justified himself. “But I want to state that sometimes in front of the scenes, but above all behind the scenes, I was the one who fought for it.”

Rhetorically, he tried to follow on as seamlessly as possible from his successful 2021 election campaign. Times have changed, he admitted —especially with regard to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and the subsequent turning point. Of course, that means investing more in the military, said Scholz.

But Scholz’s speech nevertheless followed on from his years-old offer to voters to simply keep steering the wheel after 16 years of Merkel governments. Of course, there is a need for action on pensions, the economy and the minimum wage. But the Chancellor’s message was: the country still has no problem that he — he! — cannot solve with a calm solution that is understandable to all.

Humility shortage

When three parties work together, there are inevitably at least three different approaches to every issue. Politics, after all, is about negotiation and compromise. And over the past three years, Scholz’s government has been so plagued by internal discord that it often seemed incapable of taking meaningful action. Time and again, it became evident that someone was failing to unite these competing visions. And that someone was, not exclusively but prominently, Olaf Scholz.

The precedent of such a dysfunctional coalition will make it difficult to find a majority in the future.

This day could have been a lesson in humility for the Chancellor. Because humility is needed to govern. Humility towards the body to which one originally owes the mandate to govern — the Bundestag and, by extension, humility towards the citizens the parliament represents. But also humility towards political compromise, towards the wisdom it takes to make concessions to the political positions of one’s partners. Olaf Scholz seems to lack all of this.

The reason why this failure is particularly tragic is that the precedent of such a dysfunctional coalition will make it increasingly difficult to find a majority in the future. Olaf Scholz has not only damaged a government, but also the belief that pragmatic politics can be pursued across political camps. This can only work with humility. After Monday, there are no longer any signs that Olaf Scholz is the right person for the job.