We dive into the aftermath of the German election and take a closer look at Olaf Scholz, the favorite to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor. We also unpack a new push by the EU and the U.S. to agree a common rulebook on tech and trade.Following Sunday's German election, POLITICO's Andrew Gray and Matthew Karnitschnig get you up to speed on the talks in Berlin about forming the next government. And Brussels Playbook co-author Suzanne Lynch discusses how the outcome is going down with EU policymakers, and what questions they still have about Germany post-Merkel.Olaf Scholz is in pole position to lead the next government after his Social Democrats came first in the election. But just who is he? Our Executive Producer Cristina Gonzalez caught up with Der Spiegel journalist Christiane Hoffmann in Berlin to shed light on the politician and the person.Also, Chief Technology Correspondent Mark Scott, author of POLITICO's weekly Digital Bridge newsletter, has the latest on Wednesday's inaugural meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council in Pittsburgh. Mark explains why the council is such a big deal and breaks down where the two sides stand on the key issues. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.