Germany’s Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (Social Democrats) is expected to be elected chancellor in the Bundestag on Wednesday. The parliamentary administration had officially named December 8 as the expected date for the election of chancellor less than a week earlier.
The leaders of the new coalition of Social Democrats (SPD), Liberals (FDP) and Greens (Grüne) previously signed on to a coalition agreement.
Scholz has big plans.
“We will set out to prepare the Germany we envision for the next decade.” Plans include thousands of new homes, an increase in the minimum wage and a CO2-neutral industry.
Scholz led his Social Democrats to victory against Merkel’s conservative CDU-CSU bloc in a landslide election in September. The veteran chancellor was preparing to leave the political arena after four consecutive terms in office.
The 2021 election for chancellor will be voted for in a secret ballot in the German Bundestag from 9 a.m. on December 8.
This will allow Scholz to be officially elected as Merkel’s successor, thus ending her chancellorship after 16 years. Last week she was honored at the Großer Zapfenstreich (Great Taps) military ceremony.