German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost the vote of no confidence, the election was scheduled for early next year
Germany’s parliament on Monday accepted Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s invitation to withdraw confidence in him and his government, clearing the way for a snap election on February 23 that would necessitate the fall of his government.
Scholz’s three-party coalition collapsed last month after the pro-market Free Democrats resigned in succession over debt, and his Social Democrats and Greens lost their parliamentary majority as Germany faces a deepening economic crisis.
Under rules designed to prevent the instability that fueled the rise of fascism in the 1930s, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier can dissolve parliament and call an election only if the chancellor seeks and loses a confidence vote.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrives at the lower house of the Bundestag on December 16, 2024 in Berlin, Germany, to hear whether parliament will cancel a confidence vote. (Liesa Johannssen)
Pre-vote debates also opened up a serious campaign for the election, with party leaders trading unnerving barbs.
The chancellor and his conservative rival Friedrich Merz, the likely successor, have accused each other of incompetence and lack of vision, according to polls.
Scholz, who will head an interim government until a new government is formed, defended his record as a crisis leader dealing with the economic and security emergency caused by Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
If given a second term, he said he would invest heavily Germany’s crumbling infrastructure Instead of cutting costs, he said, conservatives want.
“It may save money in the short term, but the mortgage for our future is unaffordable,” said Scholz, who served four years as finance minister in the previous coalition with the Conservatives before becoming chancellor in 2021.
GERMAN CHANCELLOR SCHOLZ WARNS AGAINST SUPPORTING LEADERSHIP FOR NEXT EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks during the Bundestag vote of confidence in the lower house of parliament on December 16, 2024 in Berlin, Germany. (Axel Schmidt)
Merz told Scholz that his spending plans would be a burden on future generations, and accused him of failing to keep promises of rearmament after the start of disarmament. Ukrainian war.
“Borrowing, spending money at the expense of the younger generation — and you didn’t say the word ‘competitiveness’ once,” Merz said.
It made no mention of a constitutional spending cap, a measure designed to ensure fiscal responsibility that many economists blame for the dilapidated state of Germany’s infrastructure.
Conservatives Lead in Polls
The conservatives are comfortable, even though they are narrowly trailing the SPD by more than 10 points in most polls. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is slightly ahead of Scholz’s party, while the Greens are in fourth place.
The main parties have refused to govern with the AfD, but its presence complicates parliamentary arithmetic and makes ineffective coalitions more likely.
Olaf Scholz from Germany lost the vote of confidence of the German parliament and created the basis for an early election as chancellor. (Lisi Niesner)
Scholz announced a list of measures that could be passed with the support of the opposition before the election, including $11 billion tax deductions and increasing child benefits already agreed upon by former coalition partners.
Conservatives have also signaled they could support measures to better protect the Constitutional Court from the machinations of a future populist or anti-democratic government and to extend the popular subsidized transport ticket.
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Measures to ease unexpected burdens on taxpayers could also be passed if regional governments agree, but Merz rejected the Greens’ proposal to lower energy prices, which he said he absolutely wanted. new energy policy.
Green Party chancellor candidate Robert Habeck said it was a worrying sign for German democracy, given the growing likelihood in a fractured political landscape that very different parties would have to govern together again.
“It’s highly unlikely that the next government will make it easier,” Habeck said.
AfD leader Alice Weidel has called for the return of all Syrian refugees in Germany after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
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