Olaf Scholz

Olaf Scholz (born 14 June 1958 in Osnabrück) is a German lawyer and Social Democratic Party (SPD) politician who became Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany on 8 December 2021, succeeding Angela Merkel after 16 years of CDU-led government. He led a three-party "traffic light" coalition (Ampelkoalition) comprising the SPD, the Greens (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen), and the Free Democrats (FDP).

Before the chancellorship, Scholz built a long career in SPD politics. He served as General Secretary of the SPD (2002–2004), Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs under Merkel's first grand coalition (2007–2009), First Mayor of Hamburg (2011–2018), and Federal Minister of Finance and Vice Chancellor (2018–2021) in Merkel's fourth cabinet.

His chancellorship was defined by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Three days after the invasion, Scholz delivered a Bundestag speech declaring a Zeitenwende ("turning point"), announcing a €100 billion special fund for the Bundeswehr and committing Germany to meeting NATO's 2% GDP defence spending target. His government phased out Russian pipeline gas imports, approved deliveries of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine in January 2023, and oversaw Finland's and Sweden's accession processes to NATO.

Domestically, the coalition faced disputes over fiscal policy, energy transition, and migration. A November 2023 ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court struck down the government's reallocation of €60 billion in unused pandemic borrowing to the Climate and Transformation Fund, triggering a severe budget crisis. The coalition collapsed on 6 November 2024 when Scholz dismissed FDP Finance Minister Christian Lindner. Scholz lost a confidence vote on 16 December 2024, and after the snap federal election of 23 February 2025, in which the SPD finished third, he was succeeded as Chancellor by Friedrich Merz of the CDU.