He defines the new German government, led by Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, a “Merkel Plus”. Consider the program of the Berlin executive to be the best it can be. He considers "prejudicial" (or at least) premature the fears that the next finance minister of Germany, the liberal Christian Lindner, could force the country (and therefore Europe) to go back towards the positions of rigid economic and financial orthodoxy. As for the agreement of the Quirinale, between France and Italy, is fine, but now we need to support it with another one, the one between Germany and Italy, because this is the future of the new Europe that emerges after the earthquake caused by the Covid pandemic.
It is the extreme summary of FIRSTonline's conversation with Angelo Bolaffi, philosopher of politics and Germanist, profound connoisseur of the German country to which he dedicated the studies of a lifetime, and former director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Berlin.
Let's start with the government: can it be defined as more progressive than Merkel's?
“That would be the minimum given that it is led by a social democrat: Olaf Scholz is the leader of the SPD and his party beat the CDU returning to power after 16 years. That said, let's not forget, however, that the new prime minister was also Angela Merkel's deputy and that he presented himself in the elections as the only true heir to the Christian Democrat Chancellor's policy. Because while Merkel's party, the CDU, had made it clear that it was ready for major changes, Scholz's SPD had underlined the opposite, namely that it would govern in the wake of continuity. And this is what the Germans have rewarded, continuity. However, we are faced with a different government from Merkel's. And the difference will be made by Scholz's allies, the Greens in primis. Compared to Covid for example, loudly absent both in the program and throughout the electoral campaign, which of their two souls will prevail? The Romantic or the Enlightenment? The first is sensitive to No vax sirens, the second to science. I believe that the pandemic, which has reached dramatic levels in Germany, will be the first test for judging the new government".
And in this regard, many in Italy are surprised by the lack of German performance on virus control, surprised above all that we have been better than our neighbors. How do you explain it?
“I'm afraid the well-known rule applies: you don't face what you don't want to see. The entire German political class has closed its eyes to the need to make unpopular decisions. First the electoral campaign, then the difficulty of finding agreements to form a government. In a context in which it seemed easier to pretend that the worst was behind us rather than questioning personal and corporate freedoms. Not to mention the difficulty of dealing with the delicate balances of the German federal system, first and foremost that of the relationship between the government of the Bund and the government of the Lander. All things, unfortunately, that we will be forced to do now, given the turn that the pandemic has taken again ".
Let's go back to the program. All agree not to impose new taxes; to raise the minimum wage from 9,50 to 12 euros per hour; to allow XNUMX-year-olds to vote. Only in the background are energy issues, the ecological transition and equal budgets. Why?".
“The program is the best it can be. I would call it a "Merkel plus" because in addition to the continuity with that of the Chancellor, for the profoundly pro-European values, it adds a lot on the social side, the increase in the minimum wage precisely, but also new rights for immigrants. For example, it has been announced that the rules will be changed to give them the opportunity to reunite their families. As for energy issues, the ecological transition and budget parity, more than natural that they have remained in the background: they can be divisive issues since each of the political families that make up the government has its own ideological line on each topic. Better to wait for the government to go ahead, solving problem after problem. It's called reformism."
The finance ministry went to a liberal party that takes a hard line on "non-frugal" countries. Should Italy be concerned?
“Christian Lindner doesn't lead the government, he's just a minister. Sure, he's a tough nut to crack, but the German government's policy is made by the Chancellor and we know how much Scholz shared Merkel's line on spending and debts. I believe that here in Italy we need to get out of victimhood. And abandon prejudicial fears. They are at least premature.”
In conclusion: what kind of politics should we expect from the new course of Germany?
“Germany will remain profoundly pro-European, there can be no doubts about this. Rather there may be a question about foreign policy. How, for example, will Putin respond to pressure from the east? The Russian president, as we have seen in Belarus and Ukraine, uses hybrid forms of conflict in an unscrupulous way, such as the use of migrants or energy blackmail. And here the question concerns not only the behavior of the Greens, to whom the Foreign Ministry went, but also that of the SPD which, let us not forget, has never had a harsh relationship with Russia over the years. But even more important than all this will be whether the new Germany will want to assume the leadership role within the Union that has been required of it for some time. Merkel had imagined it in 2017 when she declared that she "is up to the Europeans to take their destiny into their own hands as they can no longer count on the support of others". Of course, you were dealing with Trump when you said it, but changing the US president hasn't changed the goal: Europe must emancipate itself and Germany is indispensable for this to happen. Now it is up to the new rulers to decide if and how to do it".
France and Italy have signed a collaboration pact, that of the Quirinale: does it overshadow the Franco-German one?
“And why? Rather, it is a question of going to sign another pact, this time with Germany. Maybe calling it the Campidoglio, or Rome, given that what gave birth to Europe was formed in Rome. Paris, Berlin and Rome are the cornerstones of the Union, underlining this even with specific pacts can only be good for everyone”.
