Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister, Germany - Olaf Scholz
The Interview
BBC
4.3 • 537 Ratings
🗓️ 19 April 2019
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Does Germany need to reboot its economic model? HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur is in Berlin for an exclusive interview with Germany's Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz. 30 years after unification, Germany is Europe's economic powerhouse - but could it be running out of gas? Growth is down, so are exports. Critics point to an economy dangerously reliant on the technologies of the past, rather than the future. Brexit tensions and economic nationalism in the US and China could be dampening the growth prospects of big exporters like Germany.
Image: Olaf Scholz (Credit: Adam Berry/European Photopress Agency)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You're listening to a podcast from the BBC World Service. This is Hard Talk with me, Stephen Sacker. |
| 0:07.0 | Thanks for downloading this edition of the program. I do hope you enjoy it. Today, I'm in Berlin to meet the man in |
| 0:14.0 | charge of the German economy at a time when growth is faltering and long-term challenges are mounting. |
| 0:21.9 | Olaf Schultz is the number two in Germany's grand coalition government, |
| 0:27.5 | a social democrat entrusted by Chancellor Angela Merkel to follow her cautious conservative |
| 0:33.5 | economic instincts after an election which saw both major parties lose ground. |
| 0:39.6 | Schultz has a reputation for moderation and steadiness. He was for years, mayor of the northern |
| 0:45.6 | city of Hamburg. But does the German economy need something more than business as usual? |
| 0:51.9 | Growth is down, so are exports. and there are fears that the country which |
| 0:55.9 | excelled in the industries of the late 20th century is less well prepared for the challenges of |
| 1:01.7 | the digital age. And what have Germany's reliance on exports in the age of Brexit and rising economic |
| 1:09.1 | nationalism in the US and China. Well, finance minister and |
| 1:13.3 | Vice-Chancellor Olaf Schultz joins me now. Welcome to Hard Talk. In the 30 years since |
| 1:21.1 | German unification, we've become used to Germany as the dominant powerhouse economy of Europe. |
| 1:28.4 | But right now, the German economy is faltering. |
| 1:32.1 | There are clear weaknesses. |
| 1:34.5 | How worried are you? |
| 1:36.2 | I'm not very worried because we have just a softer growth, |
| 1:41.3 | which is not a recession. |
| 1:43.0 | It's far away from that. |
| 1:45.4 | Well, it's not far away from recession. You nearly sank into recession at the beginning of the year. No, no, it's not, |
| 1:49.9 | it's far away from that. And if you are a really globalized economy, if you were a big exporter |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.