During the election campaign, Olaf Scholz performed a small miracle with his defensive strategy. Duck away, withdraw, let others make mistakes. Contrary to all forecasts, this soft-footed policy brought the SPD politician to the Chancellery.
But as chancellor, this passive style of politics no longer works. At least not in a situation in which the country is faced with a double crisis of a pandemic and a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Scholz gambled away a bit of the trust that every chancellor has in the Ukraine crisis. His reluctance, the downplaying, almost trivializing of obvious conflicts in the western alliance and the cacophony in the SPD have fueled doubts regarding Scholz’ abilities as a crisis manager – because of which he was elected Chancellor. And which he has definitely demonstrated in the past.
The trip to Washington is therefore more than a classic inaugural visit. Also more than a special meeting in times of great crisis diplomacy in the face of a possible war on European soil.
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For Scholz, it’s regarding stepping out of the shadow of his predecessor in foreign policy. As Chancellor of a country that has gone its own way in Europe in its relationship with Russia, Scholz must now actively shape it. Above all in Washington, he must dispel any doubts that Germany is an unreliable partner. The signals that recently came from the federal government were contradictory, especially on the issue of the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline.
Angela Merkel was not only able to react to Russia, but also to act, because the USA always knew: the Chancellor maintains a proper relationship with Putin, but there will be no going it alone with her. Scholz still has to earn this trust. The past few weeks have contributed little to this.
More: Where is Olaf Scholz? The chancellor seeks to flee to the front
