The 63-year-old veteran leader of the German Social Democratic Party (SP) takes over the reins of government from Merkel, under whom he had served as vice-chancellor and finance minister in a coalition cabinet.
Scholz got a clear majority of 395 votes from lawmakers in the Bundestag lower house of parliament, Poland’s PAP news agency reported.
In line with the German constitution, he was then formally nominated by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the nearby Bellevue Palace, before returning to the Bundestag to take the oath of office in front of lawmakers, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
The new chancellor, a lawyer by profession and a former mayor of the northern port city of Hamburg, will lead a three-way, unprecedented coalition government with the environmentalist Greens and the libertarian Free Democrats (FDP).
Scholz to visit Poland on Sunday
Scholz has announced that his first foreign visits will be to Paris and Brussels this week before he heads to Warsaw on Sunday.
In Poland, he will be accompanied by the new German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, the IAR news agency reported.
Annalena Baerbock. PAP/EPA/SEAN GALLUP / POOL
Paweł Soloch, a senior national-security aide to Polish President Andrzej Duda, on Wednesday said that the new German chancellor visiting Poland “immediately after taking office” was “a significant gesture.”
“It shows just how important Poland is to Germany as a neighbour, alongside France,” Soloch told public broadcaster Polish Radio.
Paweł Soloch. Photo: Radek Pietruszka/PAP
“It’s a significant gesture and we will see how it impacts Polish-German relations,” Soloch told Polish Radio, stressing that Warsaw and Berlin were partners in the European Union and allies in NATO.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, Reuters