Live: Olaf Schulz elected German chancellor

After Schulz, his sixteen ministers from the SPD, the Greens and the Free Democratic Party were appointed by the German Federal President. Then they were sworn in in the Bundestag.

When he was elected chancellor, the Social Democrats lost at least 15 votes from the ranks of the Social Democrats, the Greens, and the Free Democratic Party, which form the first coalition of traffic lights in the federal government. 369 votes were required to vote. The Social Democrats, the Greens and the Free Democratic Party collectively have 416 seats in Parliament, which is 47 more than the so-called majority of the chancellor. According to the information of the coalition factions, six deputies from their ranks did not participate in the vote. Some representatives were absent due to illness.

The leader of the SPD parliamentary group, Rolf Mutzenich, was the first to hand a bouquet of flowers to the new chancellor, and then the leader of the Union parliamentary group, Ralph Brinkhaus. He also congratulated the defeated candidate, the union’s advisor, Armin Laschet.

This ends Chancellor Angela Merkel’s (CDU) era after 16 years. Schulz is the fourth chancellor of the SPD in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany – after Willie Brandt (1969-1974), Helmut Schmidt (1974-1982) and Gerhard Schröder (1998-2005). The CDU has so far presented the four chancellors Konrad Adenauer, Ludwig Erhard, Kurt Georg Kissinger, Helmut Kohl, and the last of them, Chancellor Merkel.

In the Bundestag, Schulz spoke of the oath enshrined in the Basic Law: “I swear that I will devote my energies to the welfare of the German people, to increase their benefits, to prevent them from harm, and to support and defend the German people. The Basic Law and Federal Laws, and faithfully fulfilling my duties will do justice to all.” The politician waived the Social Democratic Party to add “God help me”. Immediately before that, Schulze held the chancellor’s seat on the government seat for the first time and received applause from representatives of the Amble Alliance.

In the afternoon, Schulz wanted to take over official business in Merkel’s Chancellery. The new government wanted to meet in its first session that evening.

Merkel watched the chancellor’s election on the Bundestag’s guest balcony. When the President of the Bundestag Barbel Bass (Social Democratic Party) greeted her at the opening of the session, the deputies – with the exception of the parliamentarian for the Alternative for Germany – stood and applauded. The last chancellor of the SPD, Schroeder, came to the Bundestag with his wife, as did former Federal President Joachim Gauck. “Olav Schultz will do it very well,” Schroeder told Welt TV. “I have great confidence in him and that’s why I’m in good spirits.”

The Social Democrats won the federal election on September 26. Mathematically, it was possible to create a Jamaica alliance between the Union, the Greens and the Free Democratic Party. However, the two smaller parties opted for coalition negotiations with the SPD. The 177-page coalition agreement negotiated under the slogan “Dare to make further progress.”

SPD, Greens, and the FDP want to extend the lease brake for new rentals, among other things. In tense housing markets, increases in current rents should be limited. Electricity customers should be relieved by eliminating the EEG surcharge to promote green electricity at the beginning of 2023.

By 2030, Germany will get 80% of its electricity needs from renewable energies. Traffic light parties want to boost local public transport and increase so-called regionalization funds from next year. The legal minimum wage should be raised to twelve euros.

To protect German Army soldiers on missions abroad, traffic lights parties want drones to be armed. They agreed to create a new Federal Ministry of Construction and expand the Ministry of Economy to include climate protection.

Next year, the Traffic Light Alliance wants to take out new loans again due to the ongoing consequences of the pandemic, but then again comply with the debt brake enshrined in the Basic Law from 2023. There should be no new taxes or tax increases. Municipalities with high old debts should be forgiven.

The SPD has seven ministers in the new government: Wolfgang Schmidt (Chairman of the Chancellery), Karl Lauterbach (Health), Hubertus Hill (Labour and Social Affairs), Nancy Wieser (Inside), Christine Lambrecht (Defence), Clara Goetz (Construction) and Svenja Schulze (development). For the greens in the Cabinet: Annalena Barbuk (abroad), Robert Habeck (economy and climate protection), Anne Spiegel (family), Steffi Lemke (environment) and Sim Özdemir (agriculture). Habek is also the vice chancellor. The Cabinet members of the FDP are: Christian Lindner (Finance), Volker Wessing (Transport), Marco Buschmann (Justice) and Bettina Stark Watzinger (Education).

Many politicians at home and abroad congratulated Schultz on Wednesday. From Austria, for example, Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP), Federal President Alexander van der Bellen, Federal SPÖ chairwoman Pamela Rende Wagner and second president of the National Council Doris Boris. Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler (the Greens) also wished the new German government every success on Twitter in the implementation of their joint projects.

At the EU level, there was EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Parliament President David Sassoli, and EU Council President Charles Michel. Congratulations came from China, among other countries. Russia called for “constructive relations.”

Live broadcast: Merkel hands over her position to Schulz from about 3 pm.

https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-de/mediathek/livestream/livestreaming