The best way to win back young voters from the far right is to give them hope, security and respect so that everyone “from an untrained Amazon worker” to “Elon Musk’s son” can live without fear of the future, the German chancellor has said.
After young people voted for the far right in large numbers at the recent European parliamentary election, Olaf Scholz said it was necessary to closely address their anxieties.
“We have to work very hard to give security to people about the future and we have to tackle all the relevant questions that are important for them.”
These included labour rights, global security, climate protection, a world shaped by artificial intelligence and an “international order … which is something you can rely on”.
Scholz was speaking on a panel with Lea Ypi, a professor in political theory and political science at the London School of Economics, that was chaired by the Guardian’s editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner, at a summit of progressive politicians and thinktanks in Berlin on Friday.
Scholz said in opening the vote up for the first time to people as young as 16 in some countries, including Germany, it was “wrong” to presume “that they are completely different to their parents and grandparents” and would reject the far right.
“I think that it is not surprising that we will find every political position … that you find with older people,” he said at the Progressive Governance Summit.
Scholz said that “in a time where there are a lot of uncertainties and where we see a lot of scepticism about the future” that “reducing uncertainties and developing something you can hope for” was essential for progressive politics.
After overwhelmingly supporting the Greens five years ago, Germans under 25 gave the far-right Alternative für Deutschland 16% of their vote – an 11-point rise – helping place the party second behind the opposition CDU-CSU conservatives and well ahead of Scholz’s Social Democrats.
But the German leader said it was misleading to suggest young people in general are flocking to the far right.
“‘The young are not supporting the far right – some of them did,” he said.
“So I would say we have to discuss these topics and develop a perspective where things are running in the right direction … I’m working for this.”
He and Ypi clashed on issues such as the extent to which globalisation had contributed to precariousness, as well as definitions of freedom and security.
Ypi said “security” meant different things to different people, for example “the son of Elon Musk” versus “someone who is vulnerable in a precarious job challenged by technological development”.
Scholz interjected that societies with less economic disparity were better for all – even the scions of multibillionaires.
“You could tell the son of Elon Musk that he could have a better life in Germany ... because he does not have the need to live in a gated community,” Scholz said.
He put the increase in far-right and rightwing populist parties and movements down to uncertainty about the future, which he said had many root causes, but it was important to give people a sense of direction.
“We have to give a vision that works for everyone. So that it is a vision … for an unskilled worker (at) an Amazon site … the women working in the shop and also for the managers and the engineers and the skilled people.” He said central to this was “the question of respect”.
Scholz said he had been following the UK election campaign, and that he was hopeful of a Labour win in two weeks’ time. Of his fellow social democrat Keir Starmer, Scholz said: “I’ve spoken a lot with him. I met him quite often, and I think he is a very good, pragmatic social democratic politician.”
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He added: “It looks really good for the elections there and after that long time it’s something as a social democrat I look forward to.”
Asked if he had any advice for Starmer, he said: “No advice. If I would give him advice, I would not do it in this room.”
Scholz agreed with Viner that the world was experiencing “an extremely scary moment”, but that the challenges also presented opportunities.
He cited the example of Germany’s textile industry in which the production “moved to cheap labour countries, but the machines were built in Germany”.
He said full employment in Germany was also a scenario no one could have envisaged even a few years ago. “We have now a situation where nearly everyone is employed,” he said. “For the next 10, 20, 30 years we will not have unemployment as the big problem, we will have a lack of labour as the problem.”
He said the EU had to work with the countries of the global south, whose populations are eclipsing it, to face up to mounting challenges to security and the international order.
“To develop a scenario for the future where we can live together in a good way is something which is, I think, progressive policy,” Scholz said.
“We have to react to all these strongmen and dictators coming up and we have to organise security … but also making clear that we are strong enough and no one can conquer our territories. This is important.”
Scholz, 66, who has been German chancellor since 2021, described himself with a grin as a “technocratic manager”.
He is expected to run for re-election in the national poll next autumn. Despite recent poll setbacks, he said his future campaign message would match his party’s winning formula from the last election.
“My view is that the main question for all of us is hope. If you can hope for a better future, this is essential.”
