German
chancellor Olaf Scholz loses confidence vote, triggering early elections
Scholz had
called the vote to deliberately lose it following the collapse of his coalition
government
Kate
Connolly in Berlin
Mon 16 Dec
2024 16.29 GMT
Olaf Scholz
has lost a historic vote of confidence in the German parliament, paving the way
for early national elections following the collapse of his government.
The German
chancellor had called the vote in order to deliberately lose it, urging the
Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, to declare its lack of confidence in
him so that the first formal step could be made towards triggering new
elections.
Scholz will
now ask the president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to dissolve parliament, and to
formally call new elections which have to take place within 60 days and have
been pencilled in for 23 February.
The
embattled chancellor required 367 votes of no confidence on Monday to succeed
in his aim, and in the end 394 MPs obliged him. There were 207 yes votes, and
116 abstentions.
“My goal is
to bring the federal election forward,” Scholz had told a packed chamber in a
forceful speech. “This is about having trust in our country and not putting our
future at risk.”
Scholz said
his aim was to shore up confidence in the future of the country, insisting:
“Germany’s best days lie ahead of us.”
Scholz’s
three-way “traffic light” coalition collapsed in November after the
pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) quit in protest over the chancellor’s sacking
of the finance minister, Christian Lindner, over deep disagreements around debt
management.
The move
left Germany with a minority government of Scholz’s Social Democrats (SDP) and
Greens at a time of deep economic crisis and geopolitical uncertainty.
Scholz is to
remain in place as head of the government until a new administration is formed.
He used his
half-hour address in parliament to defend his decision to push for early
elections, arguing that disunity in the government could be tolerated no
longer. “Politics is not a game,” he said, harshly critical of the FDP’s
behaviour amid accusations it had plotted the government’s collapse. “I deeply
regret this damage,” Scholz said.
Friedrich
Merz, the head of the opposition conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
who is poised to succeed Scholz as chancellor, spoke fervently about the
election being a chance to vote against the government and “a day of relief”.
Germany, he
said, faced a tough period if it wanted to overcome its extensive economic
challenges. Germans would need to work harder, he said, as he promised fiscal
rewards for those who decided to put off retirement to participate in what he
called a necessary “massive national exertion drive”.
The election
campaign unofficially kicked off ahead of the vote. Politicians of all parties
have been battling to lure voters who are disgruntled over the cost of living
crisis and stagnation over Ukraine.
In recent
days there has also been a debate over whether Syrians who came to Germany as
refugees to escape the war should now be urged to return since the fall of the
Assad regime. There have been calls from the conservative opposition as well as
the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) for a radical rethink on asylum
policy towards Syrians.
Alice
Weidel, head of the AfD, used the occasion to attack the previous coalition for
what she called its “failed migration policy”, demanding the “immediate return”
of Syrian refugees and labelling them as “Islamist terrorists”.
Whilst in a
caretaker role, Scholz is under pressure to obtain opposition backing for a
number of measures authored by his government considered urgent for progress in
Europe’s largest economy. .
This is all
against the backdrop of the inauguration next month of the US president-elect,
Donald Trump, and all the uncertainties with which the new administration might
present Germany, including hefty trade tariffs and a review of military aid to
Ukraine.
Measures to
tackle inflation, from moving workers into higher tax brackets to subsidising
high energy prices which are currently hindering industrial growth are less
likely to be dealt with in time, legislators have admitted.
Due to
Germany’s history of unstable, fleeting administrations that contributed
considerably to the Nazis’ coming to power almost a century ago, checks and
balances are now in place to ensure new elections cannot be called without
considerable care and deliberation.
Ahead of the
vote, Steinmeier, whose post is largely ceremonial, said: “I hope we will
follow tradition and have a stable government within a reasonable time frame.”
The CDU/CSU
opposition, visibly confident amid expectations it will win the next election
under its investment banker leader Merz, has said it is prepared to back only
the most urgent of measures.
Reluctant to
appear to be helping the remnants of the Scholz administration, the
conservatives have said they may be prepared to support proposals to increase
protections of the constitutional court against the tactics of any future
populist government. They have also said they would increase the lifespan of a
hugely successful subsidised transport pass, the future of which had appeared
uncertain due to the demise of the government.
The
governing Social Democrats have also urged the conservatives to back other
policies over expectations that Germany is likely to be in for an extensive
period of political limbo following the election, when horse-trading between
potential new government partners is likely to drag on for weeks or months.
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