Berlin, Germany - January 11, 2025 Germany’s ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD) on Saturday, January 11, 2025, formally confirmed Chancellor Olaf Scholz as its candidate for the Feb. 23 parliamentary election. Delivering a wide-ranging speech at a special party convention in Berlin, Scholz warned of “hate and agitation” in politics, criticized the rise of far-right figures in neighboring Austria, and cautioned against renewed threats from abroad, including overtures by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to acquire Greenland and business magnate Elon Musk’s involvement in Europe’s electoral discourse. Scholz won overwhelming support from the party acclamation, with just a few votes in opposition. In his speech, Scholz portrayed the SPD as the voice of “normal people” in Germany and repeated his call for unity in a turbulent global climate. He voiced support for Ukraine amid Russia’s ongoing invasion and reaffirmed Germany’s stance that borders, including those of smaller nations, are inviolable. Scholz also criticized the far-right party push in Austria, Trump’s renewed talk of forcibly taking Greenland, and what he characterized as extremist rhetoric on social media, singling out Musk’s advocacy for right-wing forces in Germany’s election campaign. “If we allow hate and agitation to run unchecked,” Scholz told party members, “we risk waking up in a different Germany - one that we must prevent at all costs.”Full Transcript (English Translation)“Hate and incitement have never solved a single problem anywhere in the world; in fact, quite the opposite—and the vast majority of people in Germany know this. Many millions of citizens—all the reasonable and decent ones, the normal people with heart and common sense—need a political force that stands up for them and represents them. That political force is us, the SPD. And now the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) wants to elect a politician as Federal Chancellor who is, there is no other way to put it, an extreme right-winger. This is also a time when certain forces in America are quite deliberately working to destroy our Western democratic institutions, a time in which we cannot be certain how our relationship with the United States will develop in the coming years. We have heard some statements from the U.S. that give cause for concern. That is why I say with utmost clarity: The principle of the inviolability of borders applies to every country. Every state must abide by this principle, whether it is a small state or a very large and powerful one. That borders are inviolable is a central principle of international law. No country is another country’s backyard. No small country should have to fear its larger neighbor. This is at the core of what we call Western values. If Putin succeeds in shifting borders by force, then Europe’s security as a whole will be in enormous danger—and our security will be at risk as well.” Video by Michael Kuenne/PRESSCOV/SIPA USA.