Scholz to deliver first statement in German parliament as chancellor

The new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is due to deliver his first government statement in the Bundestag on Wednesday, outlining the guidelines for the coming four years of his coalition, which took office a week ago.
A debate is set to follow lasting about two and a half hours, and the head of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) parliamentary group, Ralph Brinkhaus, will assume the role of leader of the opposition for the first time.
It is customary for a new chancellor to deliver a kind of inaugural statement, presenting the government programme. In Scholz's case, this is likely to be in line with the motto of the coalition agreement, which is "Dare more progress."
Brinkhaus has already said that he cannot see much sign of progress in the coalition agreement.
The centre-left Social Democrats, the Greens and business-friendly FDP signed their 177-page coalition agreement at the beginning of December, some 10 weeks after the federal election. Scholz was elected by the Bundestag as the ninth Chancellor of the Federal Republic last week.