Photo: dpa/Michael Kappeler
On the evening of 5 May, the German Ministry of Defence held a ceremony to send off Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Defence Minister Boris Pistorius delivered a landmark speech at the ceremony, calling Scholz a “chancellor of a turning point” who defined a new paradigm for German security policy.
Pistorius stressed that only three months after the formation of the Scholz government, the world found itself in a new reality – after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. “You tried to stop Putin until the last minute, but unfortunately, you failed,” the minister said, stressing that on 27 February, the chancellor delivered a historic speech in the Bundestag, proclaiming a “change of era” in German security policy.
Under the leadership of Scholz, Germany:
- became the largest European donor to Ukraine;
- got rid of its dependence on Russian gas;
- created a special defence fund worth €100 billion to modernise the Bundeswehr.
“Leadership in a crisis is the courage to make painful decisions,” Pistorius said.
In his closing remarks, Olaf Scholz stated that in a democracy, power is always temporary, and this is a fundamental difference from autocracies. He emphasised that the transfer of power in Germany is taking place in a civilised and dignified manner. The Chancellor also called on citizens to protect democracy and wished success to his likely successor, CDU leader Friedrich Merz.
“It is not the chancellor or the president who determine the country’s course, but you, the citizens. Only with trust in democracy can it win,” Scholz addressed the nation.
