Even Olaf Scholz Is Admitting Germany’s Government Is in Trouble

  • Usually upbeat chancellor stunned Germans with moment of doubt
  • Scholz’s coalition is battling budget woes and leaking support
Olaf Scholz in the Bundestag on Jan. 31.Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Olaf Scholz is not known for expressions of self-doubt. So a nation took notice when the German chancellor voiced, for the first time, that things weren’t going to plan.

When quizzed on the dissatisfaction engulfing his three-party coalition Scholz told the weekly Die Zeit: “As chancellor I bear responsibility for the government. Period. So it would be absurd to say that I have nothing to do with it.”