Olaf Scholz in the ZDF summer interview: "Chancellorship has become very accessible"

Olaf Scholz is catching up in the election campaign on the home stretch for the federal election. In the ZDF summer interview, he evades difficult questions.

Potsdam – Olaf Scholz is currently in a good position. In the polls, things are looking up for him and his SPD, despite all prophecies of doom, the current Vice Chancellor can suddenly raise legitimate hopes of making the last possible further career step in the hierarchy of German politics. Scholz’s decisive advantage is currently that he – in contrast to his direct competition from Annalena Baerbock and CDU leader Armin Laschet – has not yet made himself vulnerable through missteps or mishaps in the election campaign for the federal election.

In the ZDF summer interview, the presenter Shakuntala Banerjee tries primarily to get Olaf Scholz to give clear answers. Right at the beginning, Banerjee asks whether Olaf Scholz is hoping to win his constituency in Potsdam directly, where Scholz competes against Annalena Baerbock, among others. And whether he would be a “good loser” in the event of a defeat. The journalist acknowledged his answer, according to which he received a lot of support in the constituency, with the words: “Okay, question not fully answered.”

And Banerjee’s questions remain critical. She says that a federal government has seldom been so criticized at the end of its term of office and asks Scholz specifically why his SPD voted against a motion by the Greens in the Bundestag in June to accelerate visa procedures for Afghan local staff at an early stage: “Why was that not a priority for you and your party at the time? “

ZDF summer interview: Olaf Scholz is “in principle” in favor of deportation to Afghanistan

Scholz invokes “executive action” and reports that the ministries had discussed how the local staff should be “determined” and how they “could get visas” and that a procedure had been agreed together. Scholz does not respond to the question of the SPD’s voting behavior, instead accusing the Afghan government of having “made off” and “abandoned their country”. Action must now be taken, says Scholz.

Then it comes down to deportations to Afghanistan. For Scholz, “two things” are important: Anyone who commits “serious crimes in this country” cannot stay in the country. And: Of course, it is always checked whether there is a situation in the country to which deportation is to take place, in which “this can still be carried out”. Banerjee: “The opposition said back then that this can no longer be done. You don’t. ”Scholz’s current assessment:“ I believe that what is now the new situation, that a situation has arisen there in which nobody can come in at all and we are doing our best to get many out, is of course a change . “

Nevertheless, Scholz emphasizes: “But I’ll say: you have to have principles. And one of them is that, in principle, we ensure that someone who commits serious crimes in Germany cannot stay here. There are circumstances where that leads to the fact that it is not possible to deport someone – and that is of course the situation now ”.

SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz does not want to comment on a future government team

With reference to the fact that “everyone involved is now saying” that the “major misjudgment” of the situation in Afghanistan had “fatal consequences”, Banerjee wants to know whether Olaf Scholz would still stick to a Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in his own cabinet . What she does not say: Since Willy Brandt took office as Foreign Minister in 1966, no party has occupied the Chancellery and the Foreign Ministry at the same time, rather the post of the highest diplomat has since always gone to the smaller coalition partner.

Scholz evades. Now it is a matter of doing the work that needs to be done. Then he explains what the government is now planning to think to allow even more people to travel to Afghanistan. Banerjee persistently asks about the responsibility that someone has to take on. According to the journalist, Scholz wanted to become Chancellor after all. She asks whether the current minister would also be his “first choice”. Scholz hesitates briefly and answers again: “Now it’s about the work that has to be done here. And how the next government will be formed will be decided after the election. “

Then Scholz deviates and criticizes that “new ministries are now being invented every week”. Banerjee interrupts: “We are actually in Afghanistan now.” Scholz replies that some of them are already applying for ministries and that it should be left alone. It is “not respectful of the voters”. It makes no sense to deal with the composition of a new government now.

ZDF summer interview: Olaf Scholz shifts the question of acceptance of a Taliban government to allies

Banerjee then wants to know whether a Scholz government would recognize a Taliban government. Scholz evades again: “The question of how things will go on in the near future must be decided in the convoy with all the other allies.” Positions must be determined together with the EU and NATO, but now the first thing to do is to create a situation in which something can be achieved.

And Scholz does not want to say exactly whether refugees should find refuge in Germany. It is about creating prospects in neighboring countries. Many would find protection “in Africa, Asia, in the south of America”. One cannot always say “the governments there are as we imagine”, but we have to make protection possible. If protection can now take place “in Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey and in many other countries”, then it is important to help out financially there. He has already campaigned for this.

ZDF summer interview with Olaf Scholz: “Many people trust me to lead the next government”

Scholz is more specific about the coal phase-out, which a potential coalition partner, the Greens, wants to accelerate as much as possible. Scholz refuses. “Germany has signed a contract that ends with coal-fired power generation at the latest by 2038.” Instead of an earlier phase-out, Scholz wants to accelerate the expansion of renewable energies and shorten approval procedures, for example.

Scholz also has a clear opinion on the subject of survey results. The SPD’s race to catch up, which is doing better and better in the polls, “touches” him. A change of government – a departure in Germany, as he calls it – is possible. Speaking of himself in third person, he says that a chancellorship of a Social Democrat “has now become very accessible”. Many would trust him to lead the next government, after all, the office of Chancellor is “not an easy one”. (Mirko Schmid)