Olaf Scholz voted in to replace Merkel as Germany's leader

Scholz's government takes office with high hopes of modernizing Germany and combating climate change but faces the immediate challenge of handling the country's toughest phase yet of the coronavirus pandemic.

Merkel, who is no longer a member of parliament, looked on from the spectators' gallery as parliament voted. Lawmakers gave her a standing ovation as the session started. The new government aims to step up efforts against climate change by expanding the use of renewable energy and bringing Germany's exit from coal-fired power forward from 2038, "ideally" to 2030. It also wants to do more to modernize the country, including improving its notoriously poor cellphone and internet networks.

Scholz has signaled continuity in foreign policy, saying the government would stand up for a strong European Union and nurture the trans-Atlantic alliance. The incoming government is portraying itself as a departure in both style and substance from the "grand coalitions" of Germany's traditional big parties that Merkel led for all but four years of her tenure, with the Social Democrats as junior partners.

The agreement to form a coalition government between three parties that had significant differences before the election was reached relatively quickly and in unexpected harmony.

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