Olaf Scholz officially took the reins from Angela Merkel in Germany.<\/b>
\nCenter-left leader Olaf Scholz on Wednesday became Germany\u2019s ninth post-World War II chancellor, opening a new era for the European Union\u2019s most populous nation and largest economy after Angela Merkel\u2019s 16-year tenure. Scholz\u2019s government takes office with high hopes of modernizing Germany and combating climate change but faces the immediate challenge of handling the country\u2019s toughest phase yet of the coronavirus pandemic. Lawmakers voted 395-303 with six abstentions to elect Scholz \u2014 a comfortable majority, though short of the 416 seats his three-party coalition holds in the 736-seat lower house of parliament. Merkel, who is no longer a member of parliament, looked on from the spectators\u2019 gallery as parliament voted. Lawmakers gave her a standing ovation. Scholz,63, who had been Germany\u2019s vice chancellor and finance minister since 2018, brings a wealth of experience and discipline to an untried coalition of his center-left Social Democrats, the environmentalist Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats. The three parties are portraying the combination of former rivals as a progressive alliance that will bring new energy to the country after Merkel\u2019s near-record time in office. \u201cWe are venturing a new departure, one that takes up the major challenges of this decade and well beyond that,\u201d Scholz said this week. If the parties succeed, he added, \u201cthat is a mandate to be reelected together at the next election.\u201d Scholz, an unflappable and supremely self-confident figure who has displayed an ability to put aside setbacks quickly, cracked a smile as he was elected and formally appointed by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The new chancellor then returned to parliament to be sworn in. Scholz, who has no religious affiliation, omitted the optional phrase \u201cso help me God\u201d from his oath of office, as did Merkel\u2019s predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder. Merkel wished Scholz luck at a handover ceremony at the chancellery. \u201cTake possession of this house and work with it for the good of our country,\u201d she said. Scholz thanked Merkel for her work, telling her \u201cyou made your mark on this country.\u201d Merkel has said she won\u2019t seek another political role and didn\u2019t mention any future plans on Wednesday. The 67-year-old said earlier this year that she will take time to read and sleep \u201cand then let\u2019s see where I show up.\u201d Scholz\u2019s style has often been likened to Merkel\u2019s, although they are from different parties. Neither is given to public displays of emotion or rousing speeches. The former labor minister and Hamburg mayor has portrayed himself both as her natural successor and an agent of change. Scholz quipped Wednesday that he will stick with Merkel\u2019s \u201cnortheast German mentality\u201d and \u201cnot so much will change on that front.\u201d The new government aims to step up efforts against climate change by expanding the use of renewable energy and bringing Germany\u2019s exit from coal-fired power forward from 2038, \u201cideally\u201d to 2030. It also wants to do more to modernize the country of 83 million people, including improving its notoriously poor cellphone and internet networks. It also plans more liberal social policies, including legalizing the sale of cannabis for recreational purposes and easing the path to German citizenship while pledging greater efforts to deport immigrants who don\u2019t win asylum. The government also plans to increase Germany\u2019s minimum wage and to get hundreds of thousands of new apartments built to curb rising rental prices. Scholz has signaled continuity in foreign policy, saying the government will stand up for a strong European Union and nurture the trans-Atlantic alliance. He makes his first trip abroad to Paris on Friday, maintaining a tradition for German chancellors, travel to Brussels the same day to meet EU and NATO leaders. His three-party alliance brings both opportunities and risks for all the participants, perhaps most of all for the Greens. After 16 years in opposition, they will have to prove that they can achieve their overarching aim of cutting greenhouse gas emissions while working with partners who may have other priorities. Green co-leader Robert Habeck is Scholz\u2019s vice chancellor, heading a revamped economy and climate ministry. The government\u2019s No.3 official is Christian Lindner, the finance minister and leader of the Free Democrats, who insisted that the coalition reject tax hikes. \u201cIt won\u2019t be easy to keep three different parties together,\u201d Schroeder, who led Germany from 1998 to 2005 as the country\u2019s last center-left chancellor, told Phoenix television. \u201cBut I think Olaf Scholz has the patience, but also the determination, to manage it.\u201d The incoming government is portraying itself as a departure in both style and substance from the \u201cgrand coalitions\u201d of Germany\u2019s traditional big parties that Merkel led for all but four years of her tenure, with the Social Democrats as junior partners.<\/p>\n