Chancellor Olaf Scholz takes taciturnity to new levels

Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, seldom rises above a murmur. His pinched expression suggests a doctor with bad news, not a politician. When a journalist recently asked if Mr Scholz could add some detail on a burning foreign-policy matter, the reply was a cryptic, “Yes, I could,” and that was all. Germans chuckled, but few were surprised when Markus Söder, the minister-president of Bavaria, tweeted an image of the 7 meeting in his state that showed just six of the leaders’ portraits against an Alpine backdrop. The ever-grey face of Mr Scholz, the host, was somehow forgotten. The former Hamburg mayor may have been elected last September precisely because his modesty echoes that of his famously taciturn predecessor, Angela Merkel. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has thrust Mr Scholz into a tougher predicament in his first few months than the former chancellor faced during 16 years. His ultra-low-key style makes him look to some as if he is shying from power, just when Germany needs most to exercise it. “We have a chancellor who refuses leadership,” says Stefan Meister of the German Council on Foreign Relations, a think-tank. “He says he will only act in the context of our alliances, but he makes no effort to lead those alliances.”