Chancellor Olaf Scholz looks back on his first year as Chancellor – and admits he made a mistake. The chancellor regrets his silence during Abbas’ visit. He also talks about his visit to Putin and the “annoying” holiday breaks.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz looked back on his first year as Chancellor – and admitted mistakes. In an interview with “Stern”, Scholz admits that his silence after the anti-Israel statements by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was a mistake. “What Abbas said was terrible. Unacceptable,” said Scholz to “Stern” in a review of his first year as chancellor.
“After that, I made it clear very quickly that this was unacceptable. It would have been nice if it had happened at PK itself,” said Scholz. When asked if that was a mistake, Scholz replied: “Of course, and we expressed it immediately afterwards in writing and for everyone.” That was also noticed in Israel, “that was very important to me,” added the Chancellor .
Scholz defended his visit to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in February as an attempt to avert an attack on Ukraine: “I had every hope that it was still possible to prevent this senseless and brutal war,” Scholz told “Stern”. . “It turned out differently.”
In the interview, Scholz described details of his almost four-hour meeting with Putin. “It was important because it gave me the opportunity to talk about all the pretexts that Putin is now using to justify this war – and to refute them.” He asked the Russian President: “Can it happen if I leave, that behind me the Russian fighter planes take off towards Ukraine?” Putin did not answer that with no. “I still remember that to this day,” said Scholz.
“Stern” presented Scholz with 16 photos from his first year as chancellor for comment. Among them was the picture showing Putin and Scholz at opposite ends of an extremely long table in the Kremlin. “A bizarre situation was the conversation with Putin at this insanely long table,” said Scholz. “We were alone in the room. There were microphones on both sides of the table and headphones for the translation, which I need at least.” It could have been a shorter table, Scholz continued. “But I would have had to have myself tested against Corona by Russian doctors in advance. But we don’t do that. We don’t ask that of our visitors either,” said the Chancellor.
In addition, Chancellor Olaf Scholz found the disruption of his summer vacation by journalists to be “annoying”. “Anyone who is chancellor is recognized and accompanied everywhere. I am aware that I no longer have any right to my own image,” said the Chancellor. There is “almost no more privacy”, says Scholz.
“I don’t think it’s nice that other people follow you when hiking in the mountains, but it’s not forbidden because I move around in public space.” However, there are “legally defined limits that should not be exceeded,” Scholz continues. The chancellor vacationed with his wife Britta in the Allgäu in July and was approached by journalists with a camera team during a hike
