Germany's Scholz faces Bundestag questions

Thank you for joining us in our coverage of the German Bundestag's Q&A session with the chancellor.

Scholz said that there would be "no further increase to the retirement age" in response to a question by Tanja Machalet of his own SPD.

He said any further increase would be "irresponsible."

Scholz hailed the successful "alignment" of pensions between former East and West Germany.

Last week the Bundestag reformed Germany's immigration laws to offer streamlined visa processes and new opportunities for qualified foreign workers. Dr. Ann-Veruschka Jurisch of the neoliberal FDP mentioned breakthroughs at EU level on a common asylum policy as well.

She pressed Scholz on what the government was doing to support local municipalities dealing with migration. 

Scholz lauded what he called his government's "progressive migration policy" as a tool to secure wealth of the future.  

Jurisch said calssifying Georgia and Moldova as safe countries would ease the burden. Scholz said the two countries also had ambitions in that regard and said the government was working on a law.

Schahina Gambir of the Greens raised concerns about the rise of the far-right and racist attacks. She wanted to know what the government was doing to strengthen civil society as a buffer against discrimination.

Scholz pointed to a new promotion of democracy law that is going through the Bundestag.

Gambir mentioned cases of far-right extremism in schools in eastern Germany and wanted to know what was being done to combat that.

Scholz mentioned the new law again, and without naming any concrete plans, said he was confident that local officials are working to provide preventative measures. 

Julia Klöckner of the opposition conservative CDU took issue with Scholz's claims that Germany was on a good economic footing. She mentioned high inflation, unseasonally high unemployment, recession, capital flight and the cost of living.

She pressed Scholz on an election promise to cap the price of electricity for industry at €0.04 per kilowatt hour (KWh). 

The chancellor said he didn't have enough time to "debunk all the false claims," but insisted Germany had implemented all the parameters to keep electricity costs low. 

Klöckner pressed him again to answer the specific question. Once again, Scholz said companies could access cheap electricity and went on the offensive, saying the problem was trying to undo the mistakes made by the previous (CDU-led) government on renewable energy.

The chancellor said the prospect of cheap, renewable energy in Germany was a major incentive for firms looking to invest in the country. 

He mentioned a battery factory in northern Germany and the new Tesla plant near Berlin as examples. 

Wind and solar power had made northern and eastern regions more attractive he said. In a dig at the opposition CSU in Bavaria, he claimed that would be possible across the country, if the infrastructure were available to transport energy from the north down to southern states.

Lena Werner of Scholz's own SPD party, mentioned the recent investment by Intel into a new factory in Germany. It was the company's largest ever investment in the country, and is supported by €9.9 billion of public money. 

Scholz said it was a positive sign that German and international firms were looking to produce semiconductors in Germany. He stressed this can reduce dependency on semiconductors from other global regions.

And at the same time, to secure the know-how for such an important industry for the future. 

He said all the pessimistic projections for Germany's future (referring to earlier comments from the opposition far-right AfD), would then be "punished as fabrications."

In a response to the chancellor's comments, the Left's Heidi Reichinnek argued that the child security plan was a mere "administrative reform" and said that there 3 million children and young people who live in poverty in Germany.

Defending the reform plan, Scholz said that the most important measure to fight child poverty is to ensure that children's parents have work.

He said that the government aimed to bring about a situation where children do not depend on welfare payments.

To a question posed by Heidi Reichinnek of the Left on the Basic Child Security planto combat child poverty, Scholz said the government had made a "first step" by increasing the child allowance and extra child benefits by €7 billion ($7.6 billion).

"This is a dramatic improvement of the situation for families," he declared.

He said that Berlin aimed to achieve an "improvement in performance" for the plan, which will be reflected in a draft law presented after the parliament's summer recess.

In a follow-up question, Kaddor pressed the chancellor on the values he envisaged to promote social cohesion in a diverse society such as Germany.

German society should feel responsible for ensuring all everyone feels they have a bright future, Scholz replied.

Economic growth, and the future-proofing of employment possibilities in a globalized world were key to that end, he added. 

But, he emphasized, it was vital that everyone felt able to make the most of their potential, through a fair and adequate education system. 

He said Germany's economic strength would not have been possible without the immigration of skilled workers.

Lamya Kaddor of the environmentalist Greens touched on the recent election successes of the far-right AfD at local level. She emphasized the importance of every resident in Germany being afforded the same level of protection by the state, without fear of discrimination. 

She wanted to know what can be done to protect the integrity of local government, if representatives who could be classed as far-right, are elected.

Scholz said police and state prosecutors were there to protect everyone. He vowed to use the full power of the state to pursue those responsible for any threats to citizens.

He reiterated the need for everyone in society to stand up to violence and an atmosphere of fear.

Responding to a question by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) on inflation and soaring energy costs, Scholz defended interest rate hikes as a way to damper rising prices.

Scholz said that Berlin was looking to secure cheaper energy for Germany by reducing dependency on coal, gas and oil imports and turning towards renewable energy.

The chancellor asserted that Germany will acquire 80% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.

Responding to a question from the conservative CDU on cuts to family benefits implemented under the previous government, Scholz said: "I would like to underline that the parental benefit is indeed a social and political innovation that we have kept developing in Germany."

He said that it was devised to allow more fathers to stay home and to ensure that women do not shoulder the burden of childcare.

The chancellor argued that the income threshold of €3,000 ($3,264) in the reform to the parental benefit is "already quite a lot."

He said that the government wanted to encourage parents to have more children.

DW chief political correspondent Nina Haase said that Scholz had made a "domestic audience-oriented speech" in introductory remarks to the Q&A session.

Haase said Scholz was aiming to "defend" the government's policy plans.

She said that Germany had "neglected the armed forces" for years, with an "ill-equipped" Bundeswehr.

"The defense budget is going to go up," she said. "It's the only resort that's going to get more money."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in opening comments for the session that Berlin must implement stronger climate protection and faster production of green technology, such as semiconductors.

Scholz said the government aimed for Germany to remain a "successful industrial country" while becoming "carbon-neutral by 2040." He said Berlin plans for the "massive incrementing" of Germany's renewable energy resources.

He said that this is reflected in the budget presented this morning by the government, a draft of which has been passed on to the Bundestag.

The chancellor said that the security challenges faced by Germany due to the war in Ukraine represent a "challenge for the rest of the budget" as they are "additional" tasks the government must take on.