Germany Is Suffering an Identity Crisis 80 Years in the Making
The political center is shrinking, making it difficult to enact the sort of changes the country needs to jump-start growth and restore competitiveness.
Photographer: Bre Furlong for Bloomberg Businessweek. Prop Stylist: Emma Ringness
It was September 2024, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz was wrapping up a series of town-hall-style meetings across Germany. Popular discontent over bickering politicians and a sputtering economy was widespread and would eventually lead to the collapse of the three-way governing coalition he presided over. Scholz was canvassing the country in a last-ditch effort to revamp his image as an aloof and ineffective leader.
At the final stop of the charm offensive in Berlin, the chancellor was confronted by a soft-spoken child-care worker who asked why the members of the ruling alliance were behaving like a bunch of cranky toddlers. Rather than attempt to push back or deflect, Scholz said the criticism was fair and invited the man to recommend a fix, adding with a grin that he was “asking for a friend.”