In an interview with Die Zeit newspaper, Chancellor Olaf Solz admits his government’s mistakes, confesses that he would like “less noise” within the governing coalition and acknowledges that there is “concern” in the country, while also taking personal responsibility for malfunctions. He also states that he wants to deal politically with the rise of the far right and makes it clear that he never considered resigning from the chancellorship.

“As chancellor, I bear responsibility for the government. Perfect,” says Olaf Solz in his interview and avoids blaming his government partners. “It would be absurd to say that I have no involvement” in the disputes between the ruling parties, he says, adding that until now “it has rarely been possible to make important decisions without long and public disputes”. “Is this a form of self-criticism?”, the chancellor is asked, to answer in one word: “Yes”.

Mr. Soltz nevertheless expresses his optimism about the future of the government, pointing out that the central issues on which there were different “ideological and political views”, such as cuts in subsidies or the promotion of large infrastructure projects, have already been more or less discussed, but at the same time he admits that there was no need for so much “annoying noise” from within the government.

He also describes as hopeful the fact that it was possible to adjust the 2024 budget so quickly after the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court which ruled unconstitutional the use of funds derived from borrowing for the needs of the pandemic in other policies.

Olaf Solz also states that he understands the “anxiety” in society and attributes it to the insecurity caused by the Russian attack on Ukraine. At the same time, he continues, “one can feel a sense of uncertainty because as an economically strong country, we are now addressing our weaknesses so that 20 and 30 years from now there will still be good jobs here and we will remain technologically advanced».

The coalition, he asserts, “does not follow the easy way, but moves forward with courage in the controversies in the face of the great challenges”. The last 10-15 years have gone unexploited, he points out, because governments avoided conflict, he says. In a related question, he categorically denies the rumors about a meeting in the chancellery on the subject of his eventual replacement and emphasizes that he never thought of resigning.

Asked about the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the recent revelations that its leaders met secretly with members of neo-Nazi organizations to discuss a plan for forcible mass deportations, the chancellor says:

“The genie is out of the lamp.”

However, he implicitly rejects suggestions to ban the party, emphasizes that this is something that concerns the competent authorities and especially the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and opposes his belief that “the AfD must be dealt with first and foremost politically”, with decisions such as the reform of the immigration issues. However, he describes yesterday’s decision of the Constitutional Court to exclude the party “The Fatherland”, successor to the far-right NPD, from the state funding provided for political parties as “important”.

Regarding Ukraine, Olaf Solz reiterates that Europe must do more to support Russia and expresses his displeasure with the fact that European states have not provided sufficient aid for Kiev this year and his annoyance of criticism within Germany that the government is not supporting Ukraine enough, even though it is doing much more than other EU member states.