Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) answered the questions of the citizens in view of the developments in the Ukraine war, the effects on the German population and the historically bad defeat of his party in North Rhine-Westphalia. There are his answers at FOCUS Online in the ticker protocol of “RTL direct: Can the Chancellor crisis?”
After the SPD’s defeat in the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia and the dramatic developments in the Ukraine war, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz answered viewers’ questions on Monday evening in a special broadcast by “RTL direct”. The 70-minute show was moderated by Pinar Atalay from 10:15 p.m. Here is the program in the ticker protocol:
11:33 p.m .: Atalay jokes at the end: Scholz actually knows that he is desperately looking for a double. Is Scholz unmistakable? The Chancellor looks surprised, then grins. “That makes me a little proud,” says Scholz. That’s the end of the show, thanks for reading!
11:31 p.m .: Is Scholz’ communication clearer now? “Average,” says the citizen next to him. Scholz laughs: He has to accept that. However, a lot would happen, he tries to justify himself. “Conversations like this are one of my favorite things to do,” he says. At least one citizen says: “I took a little something with me.”
11.30 p.m .: Based on the famous Merkel quote, Atalay asks: “So Mr. Scholz, can we do it?” Scholz grins: “We can do it, I prefer to say.”
11:27 p.m .: Finally, it’s about Ukrainian refugees: Integration can only succeed if everything works quickly now, says Prytuliak. It would not work at the moment without volunteering, and the state now has to provide more support. “I am confident that we will manage this well,” says Scholz. From June 1, it will now be possible to find jobs quickly and train refugees.
11:25 p.m .: “It will all depend on the children,” says a citizen. However, Scholz tries with a little optimism: Germany will provide many jobs and offer many a future.
11:23 p.m .: “Germany will be able to cope with the current debt burden and have already proven in the financial crisis that this is feasible, says Scholz. Germany is currently in the process of reducing national debt towards 60 percent in relation to economic output. Germany would then remain the only country among the G7 countries “that is so well positioned when it comes to this question of national debt,” said Scholz.
11:22 p.m .: Citizen Meyer is not satisfied. “We now know that we will not have any bubbly tax revenues in the next few years.” He calls for a stronger, temporal perspective. “We will grow out of debt,” says Scholz.
11:20 p.m .: If the Ukraine crisis hadn’t happened, the Corona crisis would have been able to bring the debt down again, says Scholz. It will now take a few more years. “But we will succeed.” The Chancellor emphasized that the government wants to comply with the debt brake of the Basic Law again from 2023.
11:19 p.m .: “We will deal with our debt burden. We have proven that,” says Scholz. He referred to the high borrowing during the financial crisis of 2008/2009, where this was also successful. Among the G7 members, Germany was the country that had less public debt at the end of the crisis than before.
11:17 p.m .: Let’s continue. Philipp Meyer, who has already poisoned Scholz twice, has his turn. He is particularly concerned about the constant new borrowing of the state. “They make debts, debts, debts – who should pay it back,” he asks Scholz.
11:13 p.m .: Again there is a short commercial break.
11:12 p.m .: When a citizen asks him how long the war has lasted, Scholz has to swallow. That is the question he also asked Putin: “What’s the point of all this?”. If things continue like this, in the end only more people will be dead and more villages, cities and towns will be destroyed. That is why the war must end quickly. But this requires a decision from Russia “to agree to an agreement with Ukraine.” Scholz demanded “that the guns remain silent and that Russia withdraws its troops.” This is the only way to find a solution come. So far, however, such a development has unfortunately not been discernible.
11:09 p.m .: Putin should not win the war, that is the goal, according to Scholz. But the goals would not go beyond that: “In view of the fact that it is a nuclear power, that would be a completely wrong goal,” said Scholz.
11:08 p.m .: Scholz emphasizes that even after the phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he is still very concerned that the war in Ukraine could escalate. “We have to worry that the war will escalate, but that mustn’t paralyze us,” he says, adding: “We have to be able to make sensible, very conscious and also very courageous decisions. “
11:05 p.m .: The financial service provider in the round addresses Scholz a second time: “I have to get involved now.” Such images would have an incredibly important symbolism, the visits from Baerbock and Merz would have reached many. “If you underestimate that, it would be really sad,” says the citizen. Scholz’ dry answer: He doesn’t underestimate that, but it depends on the talks.
11:03 p.m .: Scholz emphasizes that he doesn’t just want to travel to Ukraine to do a photo shoot there. The Chancellor said he had already spent many hours on the phone with the Ukrainian President. During an on-site visit, however, “it must be important that something is specifically promoted and must not just be a photo opportunity.” Scholz added: “I will not join a group of people who come in and out for a short time do something at a photo shoot. But if, then it’s always about very concrete things.”
11:00 p.m .: The sanctions, which are extremely damaging to Russia and throwing the country back even further, are also important. It was only on Friday that he spoke to Putin on the phone. “I don’t talk about such conversations,” says Scholz, but then mentions “the obvious”. Talks would only make sense if Russia was willing to take peace negotiations seriously.
10:58 p.m .: Another citizen interrupts: “I’m afraid that the weapons will escalate everything.” He’s worried that Putin will really freak out. “First and foremost, it’s about Ukraine being able to defend itself,” says Scholz. You would see that clearly now.
10:56 p.m.: “We are delivering the most modern that we can ever make available,” says Scholz. Many Ukrainian soldiers are already being trained for this. Prytuliak talks about her mother, who lives in Odessa. She worries about her safety us our freedom and our security.” But this help must be quick.
10:53 p.m .: “Ukraine can count on our fullest solidarity,” promises Scholz. Ukraine says, however, that too little of the weapons is arriving. “We delivered: many, many weapons, endless ammunition,” says the Chancellor. In addition, the government has campaigned for the Eastern European neighbors to be equipped with more weapons.
10:51 p.m .: A citizen of Ukrainian origin who is involved in refugee aid wants to know what help Ukraine can expect in the near future. “It touches me a lot how people help the refugees,” says Scholz to Viktoria Prytuliak. She recently learned that an important place from her childhood in Odessa was destroyed by bombs. “What do I have left of my homeland?” she says with tears in her eyes.
10:49 p.m .: Advertising over: The show continues.
10:44 p.m.: The round is interrupted for a short commercial break.
10:43 p.m .: That is also the answer to the question “Were we naive?” Scholz said: “Yes, we should have always put ourselves in a position to use other suppliers at any time by building the pipelines, the ports , where you can then get the gas from somewhere else.”
10:42 p.m .: His thesis was that it would have been good if an infrastructure had been built alongside it that would have made it possible to switch to LPG imports from northern German ports. This decision, for which he has personally campaigned for many years, has now been made. This would give Germany the opportunity to switch quickly, “and we should always have been able to do that.”
10:38 p.m .: A Ukrainian citizen in the group talks about how Germany could become so dependent on Russian oil, gas and coal. Scholz answered in the affirmative whether it was naïve to become dependent on Russian gas. Gas supplies from Russia have always been on a large scale and have worked very well for many decades, even “when the Iron Curtain was still there,” he said. Therefore, many would have weighed themselves pretty safe.
10:34 p.m .: But many jobs will be lost if you become independent of Russian energy. A steel worker fears for his future. “We’re worried that all other countries will take away our jobs.” And: “The funds just aren’t flowing.” Scholz promises rapid expansion targets for LNG terminals and subsidies. In the meantime, companies must dare to invest and switch to new energies. This does not satisfy the citizen: “Yes, but when do we start with that?”
10:31 p.m .: “It seems to me that you are doing the same patchwork as Finance Minister,” interrupts another citizen in the group. There will be a big gap between income groups, but you have to fight against it. “I don’t see it that way,” says Scholz. The big hit is to continue to create more jobs.
10:29 p.m .: The tax allowance would be increased for the self-employed, he explains. “I’m a social democrat because I want Germany to be fairer,” says Scholz. That’s why he pushed through the 12-euro minimum wage. This is how the immediate pension increase comes, Scholz continues.
10:26 p.m .: The legislative process for the relief packages should be decided before the summer, “so that the money flows very quickly,” says Scholz. Another citizen in the group says: “It’s all too little and takes too long.” Above all, pensioners are left completely alone with the rising electricity prices. “I cannot promise you that I can undermine the Basic Law in order to be able to transfer money more quickly,” says Scholz.
10:24 p.m .: However, the temporary relief packages would not be sufficiently received by many. Scholz says that the 30 billion euros are “a lot”. Nevertheless, he understands that there are people for whom this relief is not enough. The government would be constantly concerned about this. Citizen Romy Puhlmann says: “But we see that the prices keep rising.”
10:22 p.m .: A citizen worries about the price increases and wonders how she should support her life in the future. The government has therefore already “made several decisions in order to be able to help in the immediate situation,” said Scholz. These included the one-time payment, the immediate child supplement and the relief on electricity costs. Nevertheless, Scholz is “really worried that there are many who, even if they turn every cent three times, still don’t get along well.”
10:19 p.m .: Scholz does not see the traffic lights in Berlin weakened, he makes it clear. “The SPD is the strongest force and provides the chancellor.” Now for direct criticism of Scholz: Many criticize his communication style. Scholz rejects that, but also says: “That’s why we’re talking about everything today.”
10:18 p.m .: It has happened quite often in the history of Germany that the strongest party is not the head of government. “In this respect, it would be surprising if one were to say that this cannot be the case.” However, during the election campaign he “felt very deeply” that the government’s course was supported by a broad majority, especially with regard to the Ukraine policy.
10:16 p.m .: Did the SPD get such a bad result in the NRW election despite or because of Scholz, Atalay wants to know? “We would all have wished for a better result in North Rhine-Westphalia.” Now we will look again at what options there are for forming a government. He is therefore not rejecting a coalition with the SPD at the top. “That is the case “The parties that make up the federal government in Berlin, here in Germany, have a majority in the state parliament. Maybe something will come of it.”
10:15 p.m.: The show begins. Moderator Pinar Atalay welcomes Chancellor Scholz and four citizens from Germany and Ukraine, who will ask Scholz their questions that evening.
The course of the war in Ukraine in the ticker
