Olaf Scholz

Olaf Scholz (German: [ˈoːlaf ˈʃɔlts] (listen); born (1958-06-14)14 June 1958) is a German politician who has served as the chancellor of Germany since 8 December 2021. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as Vice Chancellor under Angela Merkel and as Federal Minister of Finance from 2018 to 2021. He was also First Mayor of Hamburg from 2011 to 2018 and deputy leader of the SPD from 2009 to 2019.

Olaf Scholz MdB
Scholz in 2022
Chancellor of Germany
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 December 2021
President	Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Vice Chancellor	Robert Habeck
Preceded by	Angela Merkel
Vice Chancellor of Germany
In office 14 March 2018 – 8 December 2021
Chancellor	Angela Merkel
Preceded by	Sigmar Gabriel
Succeeded by	Robert Habeck
Minister of Finance
In office 14 March 2018 – 8 December 2021
Chancellor	Angela Merkel
Preceded by	Wolfgang Schäuble
Succeeded by	Christian Lindner
First Mayor of Hamburg
In office 7 March 2011 – 13 March 2018
Second Mayor	Dorothee Stapelfeldt; Katharina Fegebank
Preceded by	Christoph Ahlhaus
Succeeded by	Peter Tschentscher
Early political career 2001–2009 Minister for Labour and Social Affairs In office 21 November 2007 – 27 October 2009 Chancellor Angela Merkel Preceded by Franz Müntefering Succeeded by Franz Josef Jung Chief Whip of the Social Democratic Party In office 13 October 2005 – 21 November 2007 Leader Peter Struck Preceded by Wilhelm Schmidt Succeeded by Thomas Oppermann General Secretary of the Social Democratic Party In office 20 October 2002 – 21 March 2004 Leader Gerhard Schröder Preceded by Franz Müntefering Succeeded by Klaus Uwe Benneter Senator for the Interior of Hamburg In office 30 May 2001 – 31 October 2001 First Mayor Ortwin Runde Preceded by Hartmuth Wrocklage Succeeded by Ronald Schill
Parliamentary constituencies Member of the Bundestag for Potsdam – Potsdam-Mittelmark II – Teltow-Fläming II Incumbent Assumed office 26 October 2021 Preceded by Manja Schüle (2019) Member of the Bundestag for Hamburg-Altona In office 17 October 2002 – 11 March 2011 Preceded by Himself (2001) Succeeded by Ingo Egloff In office 26 October 1998 – 6 June 2001 Preceded by Marliese Dobberthien Succeeded by Himself (2002) Constituency Hamburg-Altona Member of the Hamburg Parliament In office 2 March 2015 – 2 March 2015 Preceded by Himself (2011) Constituency Social Democratic list In office 7 March 2011 – 7 March 2011 Preceded by multi-member district Succeeded by Andrea Rugbarth Constituency Social Democratic list
Personal details
Born	(1958-06-14) 14 June 1958 (age 64) Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, West Germany
Political party	Social Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Britta Ernst ​ (m. 1998)​
Residence(s)	Old Market Square, Potsdam
Alma mater	University of Hamburg
Occupation	Politician lawyer cooperative syndic
Signature
Website	olaf-scholz.spd.de

Scholz began his career as lawyer specialising in labour and employment law. He became a member of the SPD in the 1970s and was a member of the Bundestag from 1998 to 2011. Scholz served in the Hamburg Government under First Mayor Ortwin Runde in 2001, before his election as General Secretary of the SPD in 2002, serving alongside SPD leader and then-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. He became his party's Chief Whip in the Bundestag, later entering the First Merkel Government in 2007 as Minister of Labour and Social Affairs. After the SPD quit the government following the 2009 election, Scholz returned to lead the SPD in Hamburg, and was elected Deputy Leader of the SPD. He led his party to victory in the 2011 Hamburg state election, and became First Mayor, holding that position until 2018.

After the Social Democratic Party entered the Fourth Merkel Government in 2018, Scholz was appointed as both Minister of Finance and Vice Chancellor of Germany. In 2020, he was nominated as the SPD's candidate for Chancellor of Germany for the 2021 federal election. The party won a plurality of seats in the Bundestag and formed a "traffic light coalition" with Alliance 90/The Greens and the Free Democratic Party. On 8 December 2021, Scholz was elected and sworn in as Chancellor by the Bundestag.

As Chancellor, Scholz oversaw Germany's response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Despite being a much more restrained and cautious response than that of other Western countries, it nonetheless included increasing Germany's defense budget, shipping weapons to Ukraine, and halting the approval of Nord Stream 2.