His monologues were notorious when he was a member of ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet, where he was finance minister and then vice chancellor in her final term. Scholz, says a member of his inner orbit, charts his own course and can sometimes be impervious to advice from others. Ultimately, though, he formulates his ideas on his own and makes his own decisions about what is important and what is not. He is a fan of the sociologist Andreas Reckwitz and of the American philosopher Michael Sandel – and even in the middle of the pandemic, he managed to read a book about the Moors in Spain. He has his advisers prepare models or different scenarios and he gathers ideas from his extensive reading. When it comes to preparing for meetings, though, Scholz is meticulous. "When Olaf Scholz doesn’t like somebody, he quickly becomes schoolmarmish,” says Bavarian Governor Markus Söder, who has taken part in countless rounds of negotiations with Scholz. It is an attitude that alienates many whose support he needs in the political day-to-day. Scholz has a difficult time hiding his disdain for people, and he also doesn’t hide his conviction that he has a better grasp of issues than everyone else. Some believe that Scholz remains skeptical of the country, even if Ukraine’s current leaders have nothing to do with that era. One country was a primary focus in the scandal: Ukraine and its oligarchs. In 2005, he was the senior SPD member of the parliamentary investigation committee looking into corruption and criminality related to the issuing of visas at German embassies. Scholz is disgusted by people who enrich themselves at the expense of others, such as oligarchs. Politicians like Hendrik Wüst, for example, the CDU governor of North Rhine-Westphalia and head of the Conference of German State Governors – but also for journalists, whose questions Scholz frequently finds to be overly superficial. The chancellor tends to reserve his superior manner for people who he thinks are close to his level intellectually, but who don’t live up to his expectations. One ally of his in the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) says that he does not exhibit any emotional blips, either up or down. Scholz is a deeply rational person, as almost all those who regularly interact with him say. When Scholz is asked about the embarrassing moment a few hours later, he says: "As head of government, I do not have the authority to comment on debates in the German Bundestag.” It is hard to imagine a more bureaucratic response than that. And then, the Bundestag vice president simply returns to the day’s agenda and congratulates two representatives on their 60th birthdays. The gathered lawmakers rise to applaud the speech, as does the chancellor. A black mask is covering most of his face and only his blinking eyes visible. Give Germany the leadership it deserves!” The Russian invasion, he says, had established a new wall in Europe "between freedom and slavery.” He then addresses the German chancellor directly: "Chancellor Scholz! Tear down this wall. Wearing an olive-green T-shirt and speaking from a bare room in the capital of Kyiv, Zelenskyy expresses both praise for and criticism of Germany’s role thus far, and demands more support. last Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is finishing his 11-minute address to the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament.
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