The German parliament on Monday accepted Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s invitation to withdraw its confidence in him and his government, paving the way for an early election on February 23 necessitated by the collapse of his government.
Scholz’s three-party coalition collapsed last month after the pro-market Free Democrats resigned in a debt dispute, leaving his Social Democrats and Greens without a parliamentary majority just as Germany faces a deepening economic crisis.
Under rules designed to prevent the instability that facilitated the rise of fascism in the 1930s, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier can only dissolve parliament and call elections if the chancellor calls and loses a vote of confidence.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrives at the lower house of the Bundestag parliament in Berlin, Germany, on December 16, 2024, to hear whether parliament will rescind its vote of confidence. (Liesa Johannssen)
GERMANY’S SCHOLZ REJECTS CALLS FOR VOTE OF CONFIDENCE AS COALITION GOVERNMENT COLLAPSES
The debate that preceded the vote also opened serious campaigning for the election, with party leaders exchanging bad-tempered barbs.
The chancellor and his conservative rival, Friedrich Merz, who polls show is likely to replace him, accused each other of incompetence and shortsightedness.
Scholz, who will lead an interim government until a new one can be formed, defended his record as a crisis leader who had dealt with the economic and security emergency caused by Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
If he were given a second term, he said, he would invest heavily in Germany’s creaking infrastructure instead of making the spending cuts he said the Conservatives wanted.
“Myopia might save money in the short term, but the mortgage on our future is unaffordable,” said Scholz, who served four years as finance minister under a previous coalition with the conservatives before becoming chancellor in 2021.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks on the day of a vote of confidence in the lower house of the Bundestag parliament in Berlin, Germany, December 16, 2024. (Axel Schmidt)
Merz told Scholz that his spending plans would be a burden on future generations and accused him of failing to keep his promises to rearmament after the start of the war. ukrainian war.
“Going into debt at the expense of the young generation, spending money… and not once was the word ‘competitiveness’ mentioned,” Merz said.
Neither mentioned the constitutional limit on spending, a measure designed to ensure fiscal responsibility that many economists blame for the deteriorating state of Germany’s infrastructure.
Conservatives clearly lead opinion polls
The Conservatives have a comfortable, though shrinking, lead of more than 10 points over the SPD in most polls. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party 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, making the formation of unwieldy coalitions more likely.
Germany’s Olaf Scholz lost a vote of confidence from the German parliament, paving the way for an early election to replace the chancellor. (Lisi Niesner)
Scholz has outlined a list of measures that could be passed with opposition support before the election, including $11 billion in tax cuts and an increase in child benefits already agreed by the former coalition partners.
Conservatives have also hinted that they could back measures to better protect the Constitutional Court from the machinations of a future populist or undemocratic government and expand a subsidized popular transport ticket.
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Measures could also be passed to ease unwanted burdens on taxpayers if regional governments agree, but Merz rejected a Greens proposal to reduce energy prices, saying he wanted a total solution. new energy policy.
Robert Habeck, the Greens’ chancellor candidate, said it was a worrying sign for German democracy, given the growing likelihood in a fractured political landscape that very different parties would once again have to govern together.
“It is very unlikely that the next government will have it easier,” Habeck said.
AfD leader Alice Weidel called for all Syrian refugees in Germany to be returned following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
