Few would have bet on the resurrection of the Social Democrats of the SPD but just over twenty days before the German elections and the departure of the Chancellor Angela Merkel Germany's electoral scenario is completely reversed compared to just a few weeks ago. The Christian Democrats of Armin Laschet's Cdu/Csu are down and no more wind in the sails of the Greens of Annalena Baerbock. On the contrary, three recent polls give the SPD candidate the lead, Olaf Scholz, current vice-chancellor and finance minister, and two other polls see him paired with Laschet. There is enough for the Social Democrats to hope for a sensational revenge which is essentially based on three ingredients: 1) the mistakes made repeatedly by the Christian Democrats and the Greens; 2) the image of stability and tranquility spread by Scholtz in the sign of continuity with Merkel; 3) a simple but very effective advertising campaign by Scholz himself with three slogans that are making him fly in the polls.
Scholz actually didn't spark in the electoral campaign but it was the slip-ups of the opaque Laschet and the inexperience of the forty-year-old Baerbock that paved the way for him, more through the mistakes and demerits of others than his own miracles. However, the Social Democratic candidate has so far managed to convey confidence and ensure stability in the country line of continuity with the Chancellor whose faithful deputy he has so far been, even at the cost of sometimes displeasing the high left of his party.
But to spice up Scholz's electoral campaign, very loyally supported by the secretary of the SPD, Lars Klingbeil, was – as Il Foglio reported in recent days – a successful and dynamic advertising man from Hamburg who skilfully refreshed the image of the social democratic candidate, above all with three electoral slogans, one more apt than the other. The first: is there a problem? “Scholz faces it”. The second: “While two argue, the third works”. The latest tagline is 'She can be chancellor' below a picture of Scholz with diamond hands in the rankings Merkel pose. Other effective messages from the German Finance Minister: "Minimum wage at 12 euros" and "Rentals accessible to all".
Will it be enough to win the elections at the end of September? We'll know in a few weeks but today Scholz is up there, at the top of the polls, where no one would have ever imagined he was. And for Europe, as well as for Germany, he is a good news.
