Dispute over new election

Merz now wants to block everything in the Bundestag

CDU leader Friedrich Merz is urging Chancellor Olaf Scholz to call a vote of confidence as soon as possible. His party does not want to cooperate with the red-green minority government on legislative decisions for so long.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Tobias SCHWARZ)

In the struggle for a date for the new elections in Germany, the opposition CDU/CSU has now also shifted down a gear and is no longer insisting on January, for which the deadline has already passed anyway. Union chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz is now aiming for February.

SPD leader and Chancellor Olaf Scholz originally wanted to call the vote of confidence on January 15 in order to bring about a new election at the end of March. After strong public pressure, he showed his willingness on Sunday in the ARD program "Caren Miosga" to call the vote of confidence before Christmas - if the parliamentary group leaders of the SPD and CDU/CSU, Rolf Mützenich and Friedrich Merz, reach an agreement.

CDU leader Friedrich Merz is urging Chancellor Olaf Scholz to call a vote of confidence as soon as possible. His party does not want to cooperate with the red-green minority government on legislative decisions for so long.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Tobias SCHWARZ)

FDP demands "decision on direction soon"
Until then, Scholz, as leader of a minority government of the SPD and the Greens, wants to cooperate with the Union parties on important legislative decisions. However, the CDU/CSU are apparently not entirely on board. CSU politician and Parliamentary Secretary Alexander Hoffmann told German media on Monday that all items on the agenda would be blocked - there would only be exceptions for "matters of extraordinary urgency or cross-party consensus". This blockade is to remain in place until Scholz has not called a vote of confidence in the Bundestag and thus cleared the way for new elections, it was said.

His dismissal sealed the end of the traffic light coalition: FDP leader Christian Lindner

(Bild: APA/AFP/Tobias SCHWARZ)

Like the CDU/CSU, the FDP, which left the traffic light coalition, is also pushing for an election date as early as possible. "The most important thing is that the country is soon in a position to make a decision on direction," said FDP Secretary General Bijan Djir-Sarai after his party's executive committee meeting. The FDP does not want to commit itself to supporting reform projects that have not yet been completed before a decision is made on the election date. 

Verbal battles continue
FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr warned of the economic consequences of a delay. "If Olaf Scholz has his way, we won't have a new viable government until next summer," he told dpa. "The vacuum that Olaf Scholz has maneuvered the country into is costing us jobs and prosperity every day." German Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) rejected warnings from the FDP of a "hanging game". "The FDP really is a flash in the pan party," he said in Berlin. It had been able to avoid a hanging game last Wednesday. On that day, the coalition collapsed.

SPD also wants to take its time with candidate for chancellor
Speaking of new elections: The SPD apparently does not want to choose its candidate for chancellor until the end of January or the beginning of February at a party conference. General Secretary Matthias Miersch countered speculation on Monday that the SPD could decide on a different candidate after all. "There has been no doubt in my mind over the last few weeks that Olaf Scholz will be the candidate," he said. Party leaders Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil have repeatedly made similar statements in recent weeks.