Germany’s new Chancellor Olaf Scholz is set to address parliament on Wednesday and answer questions from lawmakers. Scholz — who gave a first briefing to parliament in December — was set to start with an opening statement about his government’s plans. After that, he faces questions on this and other topics, including the coronavirus pandemic and the issue of mandatory vaccines. The session comes as Germany reported a record number of new daily COVID cases, surpassing 80,000 for the first time. TheTeCHyWorLD’s chief political editor Michaela Küfner said that lawmakers would “freely admit” that plans to prevent the wave of infections due to the highly contagious omicron variant “fell between the cracks with the handover of government at the end of last year.”
What else will be debated in the Bundestag?
Scholz’s address will be followed by debates on the plans of individual ministries in the German government which will take place until Friday. On Wednesday, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser — from Scholz’s own center-left Social Democrats (SPD) — was set to speak, as well as Justice Minister Marco Buschmann, of the neoliberal Free Democrats and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock from the environmentalist Greens. The “traffic light” coalition of the 3 parties has committed to an agenda of modernizing Germany and combating climate change. Among the key policies of the new government are:
- Introducing a minimum wage of €12 ($13.55) per hour;
- Make housing affordable, capping rent increases more tightly and building 400,000 new homes a year, including 100,000 using public funds;
- Relieving electricity customers by no longer having the billion-euro renewable energy surcharge financed on electricity bills;
- Establishing a new Federal Ministry for Construction and expanding the Ministry of Economics to include climate protection;
- Obtaining 80% of Germany’s electricity from renewable energies by 2030;
- Lowering the voting age to 16;
- Legalizing the recreational use of cannabis.
Like his predecessor Angela Merkel, Scholz — as head of government — is required to answer questions from members of parliament three times a year. The sessions are usually scheduled just before Easter, the summer break and Christmas. However, Scholz moved the date forward in order to face parliament right at the beginning of his tenure as chancellor. rc/rt (AFP, epd, dpa)