Seen in Spiegel, a weekly German news magazine, issue 51/2024: The letter from German chancellor Olaf Scholz asking for a vote of confidence. You can also see the pen used to sign the letter. The resulting vote of no confidence will lead to new elections.
Looks like a Pentel EnerGel Metal Tip in 0.7, still with GTIN sticker. Well, at least it’s not a BIC.
Not only is it not a fountain pen, it’s not even a German pen!
I’m always a little disappointed when people like him (and the UK PM for that matter) use cheap office supply ball-points and not fancy fountain pens.
(I remember King Charles III’s proclamation as King, he at least used cheap office supply fountain pen (I forget which one – but I think they were Pilot V-Pens!)
No, Charles used a Montblanc gifted to him by William, it’s all the other officials who used government-issued Pilot V-Pens. Rishi Sunak was known for using V-Pens, albeit erasable ones, which is not what you’d recommend for official documents. That said, the V-Pen is more reliable than most fancy fountain pens, so an eminently sound choice.
Thank you for your comments.
I don’t know too much about Olaf Scholz as I was living in the UK when he become chancellor, but I assume he tried to show he’s using a cheap pen and not wasting anyone’s money. I’m happy it’s a gel pen and not a ballpoint pen. I wouldn’t be surprised if he visited some of the German companies making similar pens (Schneider, Stabilo, Schmidt,..,) while in office, if not as chancellor than in a previous political role, so am not sure why he picked this specific pen.