In Germany, two political forces have identified their candidates for chancellor. The Social Democratic Party of Germany has nominated Olaf Scholz for the post, and the Alternative for Germany has nominated Alice Weidel, UNN reports.
Olaf Scholz is the SPD candidate for German Chancellor
At the congress in Berlin, the current head of government promised to raise the minimum wage in Germany to 15 euros per hour, to combat xenophobia against migrants, and to improve social protection for families with children. Scholz also said that the measures proposed by the conservative CDU/CSU bloc, which is currently leading in the polls, will bring "even more benefits to millionaires and billionaires," while "ordinary people" will pay for it.
Olaf Scholz also said that "Putin's Russia has waged a brutal war of aggression against Ukraine," and that some German parties are now "telling false tales from the Kremlin one after another." The Social Democrat again opposed the supply of long-range German missiles to Ukraine, reminding that Russia is a nuclear power.
SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil said that Scholz, "as chancellor, during Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, made sure that employment was guaranteed and companies were helped amid the energy crisis by holding down gas and electricity prices.
Despite the collapse of his ruling coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals, and his own low approval ratings, the 66-year-old Scholz has no doubt that he will win. But if the SPD loses the February 23 snap parliamentary elections and the office of federal chancellor goes to the conservatives of the CDU/CSU bloc, Scholz's term will be shorter than any Social Democratic chancellor before him.
Alice Weidel is a candidate of the right-wing populist AfD for the German Chancellor
In her welcoming speech at the congress in Saxony, Weidel said that her party's task is to make Germany "strong, rich and safe" again and called for the complete closure of Germany's borders. The co-chair of Alternative for Germany, Tino Hrupalla, announced the goal of exceeding the 20 percent level of voter support and ensuring that Alice Weidel becomes chancellor.
Weidel, 45, calls Margaret Thatcher her idol, who pursued a radically liberal economic course in Britain, including tax cuts, cuts in government subsidies, and privatization. This approach is in line with the ideas of Alice Weidel, an economist with a PhD who used to work in commercial consulting.
The AfD chancellor candidate also promises to try to reform the European Union - and if this fails, she says, each member state should be given the right to decide in a referendum whether to remain in the EU or not.
In a conversation with Weidel, Elon Musk recently called her a "leading candidate" for the post of German Chancellor. However, political analysts believe that she has no chance of becoming a "Trump in a skirt." Even if the Alternative for Germany wins first place in the upcoming elections, other parties, according to their leaders, are not ready to join a coalition with them to form a government.