The American Council on Germany will host a discussion and luncheon on “Germany’s Zeitenwende: Four Years On” with H.E. Olaf Scholz, Former German Federal Chancellor (2021-2025) and Member of the Bundestag (SPD).
Olaf Scholz (born 14 June 1958) served as the Federal Chancellor of Germany from 2021 to 2025. He led the first Ampelkoalition (“traffic light coalition,” consisting of Social Democrats, Greens, and Free Democrats), at the federal level. Immediately following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 20222, Chancellor Scholz held a historic speech in the Bundestag announcing a massive shift in the tenets of German foreign policy and defense spending.
A member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Olaf Scholz was elected to the Bundestag from 1998 to 2011. Before being elected Chancellor, he served as Vice Chancellor in the fourth Merkel cabinet and as Federal Minister of Finance from 2018 to 2021, during which time he oversaw management of the emergency funding package during the Covid-19 Pandemic. He was also First Mayor of Hamburg from 2011 to 2018, deputy leader of the SPD from 2009 to 2019, and Federal Minister of Labor and Social Affairs from 2007 to 2009.
Federal Chancellor Scholz studied law at the University of Hamburg from 1978 to 1984. After earning his degree in 1985, he established his own firm in Hamburg specializing in labor law.