Heckles for ‘Scholzomat’ on tour to win over critics

German crowds round on ‘accidental chancellor’ as backing for Ukraine leads to large rise in heating bills

AT A public meeting in the east German town of Magdeburg late last week, Olaf Scholz answered questions from an audience of 100 residents inside a Prussian fortress, while angry protesters outside provided a constant background thrum of whistles and chants.

It was an apt metaphor for his embattled chancellorship.

Faced with negative headlines that have hammered his popularity, Mr Scholz, who came to power on a slim majority last year, has taken to the road to win the German public back over.

But at the first event last week, the soft-spoken Social Democrat could barely make himself heard over a crowd who had come to heckle him over German sanctions on Russia and the rising cost of living.

The second event in Magdeburg was tweaked to reflect that, with an audience chosen by lot that clapped politely as Mr Scholz explained why he would not budge on supporting Ukraine with weapons.

The 64-year-old took questions for an hour and a half and rarely broke out of a habit of giving long-winded and robotic answers that have earned the trained lawyer the nickname “Scholzomat”.

One audience member said after the event that it had confirmed his opinion that Mr Scholz was “boring”, while an elderly man said that the Social Democrat’s style showed him to be “sober, considered and independent”.

Outside, though, a heated crowd chanted “traitor, traitor” and complained that they had not been given a fair chance to enter.

“My heating costs are exploding,” fumed Sigfried Ruhmer, a pensioner standing outside the police barricade. “This isn’t our war [in Ukraine]. I’m not going to bleed for that country.”

Polling shows 62 per cent of Germans are now unhappy with the job Mr

Scholz is doing as chancellor, up almost 60 per cent from 39 per cent in March.

Magdeburg is capital of the east German state of Saxony-anhalt, home to the most pensioners per head in Germany and a place where fears that raging inflation will push them into poverty are particularly pronounced.

“We are not calling for a new chancellor, we are demanding new policies,” said Wolfgang Bucholz. “They’ve forgotten about us pensioners. I can barely make ends meet.”

Even Mr Scholz’s supporters concede that he is lacking in the rhetorical skills that will be necessary to persuade the German public in the coming winter that it should make sacrifices for the Ukrainian cause.

“What you see with Scholz is what you get,” says Sudha David-wilp from the German Marshall Fund think tank.

She also described him as an “accidental chancellor” who only made it into the job because of gaffes by his conservative rival.

Ms David-wilp added: “I find it hard to see the Social Democrats as part of the next German government.”

His three-way coalition government has promised billions of euros in relief for Germans. At the Magdeburg meeting Mr Scholz vowed again that “no one will be left behind.”

But that message is not cutting through, with the public instead up in arms over a gas levy that will pass the billions of euros in additional costs for procuring energy on global markets to the consumer.

At the same time, he has fought off accusations that he helped a bank avoid paying €50million (£42million) in tax during his time as mayor of Hamburg. He has denied any wrongdoing. The discontent is likely to just be a taster for what is to come in the autumn, when Germans will start to feel the pain of soaring energy prices in their gas bills and the spectre of gas rationing will loom large.

The far-left Linke party and the farright AFD have both promised to make life painful for the chancellor by organising a “hot autumn” of social protest, leaving Mr Scholz with little room to manoeuvre.