Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Germans to sign up to his vision of the country’s technological and environmental transformation and warned against the rise of “ill-tempered” political rivals he accused of exploiting the fears of ordinary citizens.
(Bloomberg) — Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Germans to sign up to his vision of the country’s technological and environmental transformation and warned against the rise of “ill-tempered” political rivals he accused of exploiting the fears of ordinary citizens.
In a clear reference to recent gains by the far-right AfD in opinion polls, Scholz said the priority for him and his government is to convince voters that they’re the best stewards for Europe’s biggest economy through “the biggest change since the industrial revolution.”
“Otherwise, those who play politics with the fears of citizens in an ill-tempered mood will become even more popular,” he said Wednesday in a speech in Berlin.
“I don’t need to tell you the risk this poses, especially for Germany as an open, globally networked economy,” he added. “The move toward climate neutrality must be a convincing growth story that everyone can be part of.”
The AfD’s advances in recent months have been fueled by discontent over issues ranging from record immigration, persistently high inflation and costly climate-protection measures. The party leapfrogged Scholz’s Social Democrats this month to rank as Germany’s no. 2 party in a Forsa poll for broadcaster RTL for the first time.
As well as questioning the impact humans have on global warming, the AfD wants to stop more foreigners coming to Germany, and has exploited infighting in Scholz’s ruling coalition of his center-left SPD, the environmentalist Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats.
In his speech Wednesday, at an event marking the 60th anniversary of the government’s panel of independent economic advisers, Scholz listed several reasons why his positive outlook for Germany will become reality.
Mass unemployment is no longer a threat, the shift to carbon neutrality will trigger massive investment globally and German companies stand to reap the benefits, and market forces in a free and liberal democracy will always succeed against rival systems, he said.
–With assistance from Chris Reiter and Stefan Nicola.
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