Chancellor at RTL
“Toothache”: Scholz with a bleak forecast for the future
09.10.2024Reading time: 3 min.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz answered questions from citizens in a television program. Topics such as migration, reducing bureaucracy and the controversial 1,000 euro bonus for the long-term unemployed were discussed.
For the third time, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz answered citizens’ questions on Tuesday evening in the program “RTL special – at the table with Olaf Scholz”. Topics such as migration, bureaucracy and the 1,000 euro bonus for the long-term unemployed were discussed. It wasn’t just the invited citizens who were skeptical about the traffic light policy – the Chancellor himself also expressed his doubts about the effect of the planned measure.
On the show, Scholz remained optimistic about the next election: “I will win the federal election, like the last one.” He still believes he is the right candidate for chancellor. When asked that Defense Minister Boris Pistorius would be an asset to the country, Scholz simply replied: “So am I.”
However, when looking into the future, the SPD politician is worried: “I sometimes have a toothache when I think about what the next ten or 20 years will be like. We will no longer have a government like we were used to in previous decades “, a party with a lot of votes and a smaller party,” said Scholz on Tuesday evening. There will be many governments formed by several parties. Compromises are necessary.
After the emotional description of a father from Elmshorn, whose daughter was murdered by a refugee, Chancellor Olaf Scholz was deeply affected: “It’s a crime that I can’t get out of my head.” He made it clear that he expected the courts to make bolder decisions. In particular, life sentences should more often be combined with subsequent preventive detention.
Scholz also pointed out the need for stricter border controls, which should continue indefinitely. The number of deportations must also increase, because “anyone who commits such a crime has forfeited their right to protection in Germany,” emphasized the Chancellor. Since September 16th, controls have been carried out at all German borders in order to limit the number of unauthorized entries.
Scholz was also skeptical about the planned start-up bonus for the long-term unemployed. “I don’t share many people’s theory that you have to lure people to work,” explained Scholz. He emphasized that “we are all born to work” and could understand the criticism of those who “go to work every morning without getting a bonus.”
Scholz believes that the bonus of 1,000 euros for taking up employment may not be very effective: “Maybe it won’t do anything, but it won’t do any harm either,” he added.
Last week, the cabinet decided to tighten the rules for citizens’ benefit recipients. Anyone who refuses a job offer in the future will face stricter sanctions. Part of the package of measures is so-called start-up financing: long-term unemployed people who take up employment subject to social insurance contributions after more than twelve months should receive a one-off bonus of 1,000 euros. The regulation is scheduled to come into force on January 1, 2025.
When it comes to the topic of reducing bureaucracy, there is broad agreement among the discussion participants: the political leadership is increasingly disappointing citizens by creating new obstacles instead of helping. When asked how this “jungle of regulations” should be dealt with, Chancellor Olaf Scholz replied that a lot had already been done to “move from saying slogans to taking action.”