Only a year after coming to power in Germany, Olaf Scholz endured the shock of the war in Ukraine, which destroyed the main economy of Europe. But his popularity is declining and he is struggling to establish himself internationally, AFP reported on Sunday, as quoted by News.ro.

The Social Democratic chancellor was elected by German parliamentarians on December 8, 2021, thus ending 16 years of the Angela Merkel era.

The balance, in popular opinion, after twelve months sounds like a sanction. 64% of Germans are not satisfied with the coalition government he leads with environmentalists and liberals (compared with 36% a year ago), 58% are dissatisfied with Olaf Scholz (compared with 22%), according to an Insa poll published on Sunday. Bild daily newspaper.

If elections were held today, the coalition would be far from winning a majority.

However, “taking into account the dramatic events that have taken place this year, they are going very well,” says Niels Diederich, a professor at the Free University of Berlin.

Barely in office, his leadership program, which supported budget austerity and an ambitious climate policy, was undone by the Russian invasion and its consequences: the arrival of refugees, energy shortages, inflation.

His speech in the Bundestag on February 27, three days after Putin’s offensive began, in which he announced a sharp increase in German military spending, ushered the country into a new era.

In addition, “Scholz’s government consists of three parties with very different goals. This does not make his task any easier,” says Ursula Münch, director of the Academy of Political Education in Tutzing.

“Governing has become even more difficult because the political system is more fragmented than it was under Christian Democrat Angela Merkel,” Münch notes.

However, Scholz’s government managed to implement some points of its proposed program, such as raising the minimum wage to 12 euros per hour from 9.6 euros previously, as well as reforming unemployment benefits. Two favorite topics of social democrats.

Two other files, the legalization of cannabis and the modernization of Germany’s citizenship law, are currently in the works.

On the other hand, climate policy, the main focus of the Greens, is currently on the sidelines.

In the face of energy shortages organized by Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, Scholz expanded the operation of the last three German nuclear power plants.

And if a return to budgetary rigidity, which is advocated by another coalition partner, the VDP, is planned for next year, then in fact it is happening thanks to balancing, with an increase in special funds not included in the official budget.

On the international stage, former finance minister Merkel is still making her mark.

“It’s hard to follow a leader who has been in office for 16 years,” said Rachel Rizzo, an expert at the European Center of the US think tank Atlantic Council.

In addition, Scholz participated in the election campaign, joining the line of Chancellor Merkel. “He didn’t want to seem like a transformational candidate, he wasn’t the Obama of Germany,” Rizzo notes.

On a European scale, “it is impossible to understand from a political point of view”, says Eric Maurice from the Brussels office of the Robert Schuman Foundation.

At the end of August, during a speech in Prague, Scholz called for the enlargement of the EU and an end to the right of veto, which meant the paralysis of institutions, a kind of response to Emmanuel Macron’s five-year conclusion. earlier, at the Sorbonne. But, according to Maurice, “we do not see a comprehensive vision of the future of Europe.”

In addition, a national €200 billion bailout plan to combat rising energy prices unveiled by Olaf Scholz in late September has been unpopular with many EU countries, which do not have the same means as Germany and are wary. that it will affect competition.

In addition, a misunderstanding between Paris and Berlin recently emerged, with French President Emmanuel Macron telling the chancellor: “It is not good for Germany or for Europe that it isolates itself.”