On Wednesday, Germany’s parliament chose Olaf Scholz as the country’s eighth post-World War II chancellor, ushering in a new era for the European Union’s most populous nation and greatest economy following Angela Merkel’s 16-year reign.

Scholz’s administration starts office with great ambitions of modernizing Germany and tackling climate change, but the country has the immediate task of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic’s most difficult phase yet.

Scholz was elected chancellor by a vote of 395-303, with six abstentions. His three-party alliance has 416 of the lower house’s 736 seats.

Scholz exchanged fist bumps with parliamentarians from both sides of the political aisle. Later Wednesday, he was to be formally appointed chancellor by Germany’s president and sworn in by the speaker of parliament.

Merkel, who is no longer a member of parliament, watched the vote from the spectators’ gallery. As the session began, lawmakers gave her a standing ovation.

Scholz, 63, has served as Germany’s vice chancellor and finance minister since 2018. He offers a depth of expertise and discipline to an untested coalition of his center-left Social Democrats, ecological Greens, and pro-business Free Democrats. The three parties are framing their coalition of erstwhile adversaries as a progressive combination that would provide fresh vigor to the country following Merkel’s near-record tenure in government.

“We are embarking on a new path, one that will address the main issues of this decade and well beyond,” Scholz said on Tuesday. If the parties are successful, he says, “it is a mandate to be reelected jointly in the next election.”

The new administration intends to increase efforts against climate change by increasing the use of renewable energy and moving Germany’s withdrawal from coal-fired power generation from 2038 to 2030, “ideally.” It also wishes to do more to modernize the nation, such as improve its infamously inadequate mobile and internet networks.

It also intends more liberal social policies, such as legalizing the recreational use of cannabis and simplifying the road to German citizenship, while committing increased efforts to deport non-asylum seekers. The coalition partners aim to reduce the voting age in national elections from 18 to 16 years old.

The administration also intends to raise Germany’s minimum wage from 9.60 euros to 12 euros ($13.50) per hour, which Scholz claims will “represent a salary boost for 10 million.” In addition, the alliance has vowed to build 400,000 additional residences every year in order to combat increasing rents.

Scholz has emphasized foreign policy continuity, stating that the administration will fight for a strong European Union and maintain the trans-Atlantic partnership.

The three-party coalition carries with it both potential and hazards for all parties involved, probably most notably the Greens. After 16 years of resistance, they will have to demonstrate that they can achieve their main goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions while collaborating with partners who may have different interests.

Scholz’s vice chancellor will be Greens co-leader Robert Habeck, who will manage a restructured economics and climate ministry. Christian Lindner, the finance minister and head of the Free Democrats, will be the government’s No. 3 official, having pushed that the coalition reject tax increases and looser debt limits.

The next administration is presenting itself as a shift in both style and content from Merkel’s “grand coalitions” of Germany’s conventional main parties, which she led for all but four years of her term, with the Social Democrats as junior partners.

In those uneasy partnerships, the partners appeared to be chiefly concerned with thwarting each other’s intentions. Until the pandemic hit, Merkel’s final term witnessed constant infighting, some of it inside her own center-right Union coalition. She leaves a legacy defined mostly by her praised management of a number of crises, rather than any great ideas for Germany.

Scholz warned his party last weekend that governing with Merkel’s group, which his Social Democrats narrowly defeated in Germany’s September election, was “challenging.” He chastised the Union group for its “this-far-and-nowhere conservatism.”

The next administration is presenting itself as a shift in both style and content from Merkel’s “grand coalitions” of Germany’s conventional main parties, which she led for all but four years of her term, with the Social Democrats as junior partners.

In those uneasy partnerships, the partners appeared to be chiefly concerned with thwarting each other’s intentions. Until the pandemic hit, Merkel’s final term witnessed constant infighting, some of it inside her own center-right Union coalition. She leaves a legacy defined mostly by her praised management of a number of crises, rather than any great ideas for Germany.

Scholz warned his party last weekend that governing with Merkel’s group, which his Social Democrats narrowly defeated in Germany’s September election, was “challenging.” He chastised the Union group for its “this-far-and-nowhere conservatism.”

The agreement to establish a coalition government among three parties with considerable differences before to the election was reached very swiftly and in surprising harmony.

“If the wonderful collaboration that worked while we were creating the government continues to operate,” Scholz added, “it will be a very, very good moment for the responsibilities that lay ahead of us.” He said that coping with the epidemic will need “all of our power and energy.”

Last Monday, German federal and state officials announced stringent new restrictions aimed mostly at unvaccinated persons. In the long run, parliament will consider enacting a general vaccination mandate. Daily COVID-19 infections in Germany reached record highs this autumn, but they appear to be leveling off, and hospitals are feeling the strain. So far, nearly 103,000 COVID-19 fatalities have occurred in the country as a result of the epidemic.