German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called on his coalition to "get our act together" following the poor results in the European elections.
"I think one of the very justified criticisms of many citizens is that there is too much discussion," Scholz said in an interview with the broadcaster ZDF interview on Saturday at the G7 summit in southern Italy.
"In the end, a lot is decided, but sometimes you can't even see what the decision is behind all the gun smoke."
In another interview with RTL and ntv, Scholz said it would not be possible to go back to business as usual after the big election losses of the three coalition parties - Scholz's centre-left Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats.
First and foremost, he said, this means "doing all the homework that still needs to be done".
Scholz told ZDF television that the immediate issue was next year's budget, a task "that we have to solve soon, by the beginning of next month."
He said the priority is achieving "good growth" and creating modern jobs. "And that means that we have to get our act together in the way we reach agreements."
With a view to next year's general election, Scholz expressed confidence that he would be able to present a good balance sheet and good prospects, despite the recent European election defeat. "But I want to say explicitly that this means that everyone has to pause for a moment and make a firm commitment to this, to keep their heads down."
The SPD's European election result, at just 13.9%, was its worst ever in a nationwide vote.
