Misleading claims targeting the German chancellor have been spreading online days before German voters head to the polls to elect a new government.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00No, Olaf Scholz has not called for a state of emergency in Germany over the situation
00:05in Ukraine.
00:10Donald Trump's efforts to kick off peace talks with Russia without Ukrainians or Europeans
00:16at the table have astonished leaders across the continent.
00:21But some reactions have been taken out of context online.
00:25These social media users have misleadingly claimed that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz
00:30has called for a state of emergency in Germany due to US efforts to negotiate with Russia
00:36without consulting with Europe.
00:38But his words have been manipulated and taken out of context.
00:42This is what he did say.
00:57Scholz refers to notlage, which means emergency.
01:01But social media users have misleadingly suggested he was referring to a state of emergency or
01:07notstand, which the government can introduce in times of crisis and which can severely
01:12curtail citizens' rights.
01:15Scholz also references an article in the German Basic Law that allows exceptions to the country's
01:21so-called debt break in exceptional emergency situations.
01:27The Christian Democrat Friedrich Merz, tipped to become the next German Chancellor, has
01:32said he's also open to triggering this exception to boost defence spending given the ongoing
01:39war in Ukraine.
01:40While Scholz has clearly expressed alarm at Trump's overtures to Russia, rejecting a peace
01:47dictated on Ukraine, he has not indicated this could lead to a state of emergency in
01:52Germany.