German Chancellor Angela Merkel hands over her office to Olaf Scholz, who was sworn in along with his new cabinet, marking the beginning of a new chapter for Europe's largest democracy.
During the event, Merkel wished Scholz well and called the chancellorship "one of the most beautiful duties there are." On Wednesday, an era of German politics ended after Merkel handed her position to her successor.
New German Chancellor
For the first time in the last 16 years, the region will now have a center-left government led by Scholz, who now finds himself in the difficult position of living up to high expectations left by Merkel's former government. With the former chancellor's leadership, Germany became Europe's leading power.
Merkel steered her country and the entire continent through a series of local and international crises before leaving her post. The former chancellor first announced her planned departure in 2018 when she said she would not be seeking re-election despite being the most popular politician in Germany, the New York Times reported.
Scholz, who is the leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), won the secret vote in the Parliament as many expected. The election win was a result of months of negotiations after the SPD's narrow victory in the federal elections in September.
After the swearing-in ceremony, Scholz visited German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who then officially appointed the official as the country's new chancellor. Scholz was then sworn in at the Parliament.
Scholz, who is 63 years old, previously served as the Labor and Social Affairs minister in former chancellor Merkel's first coalition government in the last 2000s. He was then elected mayor of Hamburg in 2011, a position he held until 2018 while garnering high levels of support, CNN reported.
Effect on Global Economy
The new appointment of German chancellor Scholz has an anticipated effect on the global economy. During an interview with Scholz when he visited London to negotiate a deal on global multinational taxation, he expressed his tearful joy at the G7 agreement. He said that that deal "will really change the world."
Scholz's entrance as Germany's new chancellor comes with various signature pieces of economic policies. The first is short-time working schemes, which were previously promoted in Germany and are now being utilized across Europe and even in the United Kingdom under the guise of the furlough scheme.
The new German chancellor said that short-term allowance, Kurzarbeit, the method which he used when he was still working as the minister of labor in Germany a decade ago, was now being used in various countries in Europe. Scholz said that the use of the method showed that it was the right thing to do against a crisis such as the coronavirus pandemic.
Scholz is also responsible for the Agenda 2010 reforms of the last center-left Chancellor Gerhard Schroder. They resulted in significant reductions in the cost of labor in the country with the creation of low-paid "mini-jobs", and led to a rapid rise in German export competitiveness, resulting in the revival of the country's economy, BBC reported.
