Traditional trade fair tour in Hanover, visit to a Continental AG tyre plant, guest at Bellevue Palace to attend the award ceremony at which the former Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel was presented with the highest order of merit. See the Federal Chancellor's week in pictures here.
Hanover, April 17, 2023: The week began with a tour of the Hannover Messe. Following three years of Covid-19 restrictions, some 4,000 exhibitors presented their latest products at this year's trade fair. This year's partner country is Indonesia.
The Federal Chancellor visited a Continental AG tyre plant in Hanover in the afternoon.
Among other things, Continental operates a truck and bus tyre retreading facility at the site.
Back in Berlin, the Federal Chancellor was a guest at Bellevue Palace in the evening. The Federal President awarded a specially minted Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany – the country's highest award – to former Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"Not only were you the first female Federal Chancellor," said Federal President Steinmeier at the award ceremony, "but your chancellorship has ensured that there will always be women in high government office and that women in power will always be the norm in our country."
Merkel, Scholz said, was always focused on the matter at hand and on the facts, unpretentiously, with no airs and graces, and with wisdom and pragmatism. "My dear Angela Merkel, I would like to offer you my warmest congratulations on receiving the specially minted Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany."
Berlin, April 18, 2023: Alain Berset, President of the Swiss Confederation, was a guest at the Chancellery on Tuesday.
Each year, the President of the Confederation is elected by the United Federal Assembly from among the Federal Councillors to serve a term of one year. Berset had already been elected to this position in 2018.
Lisbon, April 19, 2023: The Federal Chancellor left for a two-day visit to Portugal on Wednesday. The programme for the first day included a meeting with Prime Minister António Costa.
"In many ways," said the Federal Chancellor, "we are like-minded." The two countries, he said, wanted to work together to develop these relations further and to contribute to "a geopolitical Europe that is capable of overcoming the challenges it faces and that collaborates well within the transatlantic alliance".
Lisbon, April 20, 2023: Before returning to Berlin, Scholz also visited a centre for digital development run by the Volkswagen Group, where employees from over 30 nations develop software applications for business processes including digital models of factories for process optimisation.
That afternoon, Scholz participated in the fourth online conference on energy and climate at Joe Biden's request from the Chancellery. Biden called upon the representatives of important industrialised nations to redouble their efforts to combat climate change.
Together with Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz took part in a round of talks concerning the energy supply with liquefied natural gas in Binz on the island of Rügen. The Federal Chancellor was clear about the fact that: "We also need an import infrastructure in Eastern Germany."