Olaf Scholz

Olaf Scholz MdB
Scholz in 2024
Chancellor of Germany
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 December 2021
President	Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Vice Chancellor	Robert Habeck
Preceded by	Angela Merkel
Vice Chancellor of Germany
In office 14 March 2018 – 8 December 2021
Chancellor	Angela Merkel
Preceded by	Sigmar Gabriel
Succeeded by	Robert Habeck
Minister of Finance
In office 14 March 2018 – 8 December 2021
Chancellor	Angela Merkel
Preceded by	Wolfgang Schäuble
Succeeded by	Christian Lindner
First Mayor of Hamburg
In office 7 March 2011 – 13 March 2018
Second Mayor	Dorothee Stapelfeldt Katharina Fegebank
Preceded by	Christoph Ahlhaus
Succeeded by	Peter Tschentscher
Early political career 2001–⁠2011 Deputy Leader of the Social Democratic Party in the Bundestag In office 27 October 2009 – 11 March 2011 Serving with Joachim Poß, Angelica Schwall-Düren, Elke Ferner, Ulrich Kelber, Gernot Erler, Florian Pronold, Dagmar Ziegler, Hubertus Heil, Axel Schäfer Leader Frank-Walter Steinmeier Preceded by Ludwig Stiegler Walter Kolbow Fritz Rudolf Körper Klaas Hübner Christel Humme Succeeded by Christine Lambrecht Minister for Labour and Social Affairs In office 21 November 2007 – 27 October 2009 Chancellor Angela Merkel Preceded by Franz Müntefering Succeeded by Franz Josef Jung Chief Whip of the Social Democratic Party in the Bundestag In office 13 October 2005 – 21 November 2007 Leader Peter Struck Preceded by Wilhelm Schmidt Succeeded by Thomas Oppermann General Secretary of the Social Democratic Party In office 20 October 2002 – 21 March 2004 Leader Gerhard Schröder Preceded by Franz Müntefering Succeeded by Klaus Uwe Benneter Senator for the Interior of Hamburg In office 30 May 2001 – 31 October 2001 First Mayor Ortwin Runde Preceded by Hartmuth Wrocklage Succeeded by Ronald Schill
Parliamentary constituencies Member of the Bundestag for Potsdam – Potsdam-Mittelmark II – Teltow-Fläming II Incumbent Assumed office 26 October 2021 Preceded by Manja Schüle (2019) Member of the Bundesrat for Hamburg In office 7 March 2011 – 13 March 2018 Preceded by Christoph Ahlhaus Succeeded by Peter Tschentscher Member of the Hamburg Parliament In office 2 March 2015 – 2 March 2015 Preceded by Himself (2011) Electoral list Social Democratic Party In office 7 March 2011 – 7 March 2011 Preceded by Multi-member district Succeeded by Andrea Rugbarth Electoral list Social Democratic Party Member of the Bundestag for Hamburg-Altona In office 17 October 2002 – 11 March 2011 Preceded by Himself (2001) Succeeded by Ingo Egloff In office 26 October 1998 – 6 June 2001 Preceded by Marliese Dobberthien Succeeded by Himself (2002) Deputy Member of the Bundesrat for Hamburg In office 30 May 2001 – 31 October 2001 Appointed by Ortwin Runde Preceded by Hartmuth Wrocklage Succeeded by Multi-member district
Personal details
Born	(1958-06-14) 14 June 1958 (age 66) Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, West Germany
Political party	Social Democratic (since 1975)
Spouse	Britta Ernst ​ (m. 1998)​
Residence(s)	Old Market Square, Potsdam
Alma mater	University of Hamburg
Signature
Website	olaf-scholz.spd.de

Olaf Scholz (German: [ˈoːlaf ˈʃɔlts] ^ⓘ; born (1958-06-14)14 June 1958) is a German politician who has been Chancellor of Germany since 2021. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as vice chancellor in the fourth Merkel cabinet and as Federal Minister of Finance from 2018 to 2021. He was also First Mayor of Hamburg from 2011 to 2018, deputy leader of the SPD from 2009 to 2019, and Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs from 2007 to 2009.

Scholz began his career as a lawyer specialising in labour and employment law. He became a member of the SPD in the 1970s and was a member of the Bundestag from 1998 to 2011. Scholz served in the Hamburg Government under First Mayor Ortwin Runde in 2001 and became general secretary of the SPD in 2002, where he served alongside SPD leader and then-chancellor Gerhard Schröder. He became his party's chief whip in the Bundestag, later entering the First Merkel Government in 2007 as Federal Minister for Labour and Social Affairs. After the SPD moved into the opposition following the 2009 election, Scholz returned to lead the SPD in Hamburg. He was then elected deputy leader of the SPD. He led his party to victory in the 2011 Hamburg state election and became first mayor, a position he held until 2018.

After the Social Democratic Party entered the fourth Merkel government in 2018, Scholz was appointed as both minister of finance and Vice Chancellor of Germany. In 2020, he was nominated as the SPD's candidate for Chancellor of Germany for the 2021 federal election. The party won a plurality of seats in the Bundestag and formed a "traffic light coalition" with Alliance 90/The Greens and the Free Democratic Party. On 8 December 2021, Scholz was elected and sworn in as chancellor by the Bundestag, succeeding Angela Merkel.

As chancellor, Scholz has overseen Germany's response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Despite giving a restrained and timid response compared to many other Western leaders, Scholz oversaw a significant increase in the German defence budget, weapons shipments to Ukraine, and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was put on hold. Three days after the invasion, Scholz set out the principles of a new German defence policy in his Zeitenwende speech. In September 2022, three of the four Nord Stream pipelines were destroyed. During the Israel–Hamas war, he authorized substantial German military and medical aid to Israel, and denounced the actions of Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups. In November 2023, the Federal Constitutional Court demanded budget cuts totaling €60 billion to ensure the government would not surpass debt limits as set in the constitution;^[1] this proved a significant challenge for Scholz's cabinet and contributed to the 2023–2024 protests.^[2] On 6 November 2024, his government majority collapsed as he fired Christian Lindner from the post of Federal Minister of Finance and broke up the coalition agreement.