Scholz, who has formed a
three-party coalition with the Greens and pro-business Free Democrats, has positioned himself as a pragmatist and a safe pair of hands. He is seen as a moderate and centrist, which has made him somewhat of an outlier within his party.
"Scholz seems to partly owe his success [in the election] to posing as [Merkel's] worthy heir during the campaign, calm and unassuming -- and with his hands folded into a Merkel-style rhombus in a picture that went viral," Holger Schmieding, the chief economist at Berenberg Bank, wrote in an analyst note on Wednesday. "Such imitation is probably the best compliment he could have paid her.
Despite some ups and downs during her long reign, Merkel leaves office as the most popular politician in the country, with 69% approval." Merkel, who watched the parliamentary proceedings from the visitors' gallery alongside former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, received applause from lawmakers when name-checked by the parliamentary president Baerbel Bas.
Having led Germany for 16 years and 16 days, Merkel has narrowly missed on becoming the longest serving post-war Chancellor, trailing Helmut Kohl by mere 10 days.
Scholz has big shoes to fill. He is also taking over at a time of increasing diplomatic uncertainty in the European Union -- including provocation from Russia and Belarus, and threats to the rule of law from Poland and Hungary. Unlike Merkel, he is not well known abroad.
2 Weeks
3 hours per week
