German Chancellor Olaf Scholz loses no-confidence vote, calls for election early next year

Germany’s parliament accepted an invitation from Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday, revoking its confidence in him and his government, clearing the way for snap elections on February 23 that will have to be held due to the government’s collapse.

Scholz’s three-party coalition fell apart last month after a series of exits from the pro-market Free Democrats over debt concerns, causing his Social Democrats and Greens to lose their parliamentary majority as Germany faces a deepening economic crisis.

Under rules designed to prevent the instability of the rise of fascism in the 1930s, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier can dissolve parliament and call elections only if the prime minister calls for a vote of confidence and fails.

Germany’s Scholz rejects no-confidence vote as coalition government collapses

The pre-poll debate also kicked off the serious election campaign, with party leaders trading vicious barbs.

The German chancellor and his conservative challenger Friedrich Merz, who surveys suggest is likely to replace him, accuse each other of incompetence and a lack of vision.

Scholz, who will lead a caretaker government until a new government is formed, has defended his record as a crisis leader who has dealt with the economic and security emergency triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

If re-elected, he said, he would invest heavily in Germany’s crumbling infrastructure rather than cut spending as he said conservatives demanded.

“Short-sightedness may save money in the short term, but our future mortgages will be unaffordable,” said Scholz, who served four years as finance minister in a coalition with the conservatives before becoming chancellor in 2021. .

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German Chancellor Olaf Schulz speaks on the day of the confidence vote in the lower house of the Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, December 16, 2024 (Axel Schmidt)

Merz told Scholz that his spending plans would burden future generations and accused him of failing to fulfill promises to rearm after the outbreak of war in Ukraine.

“Taking debt, spending money at the expense of younger generations — and not once did you say the word ‘competitiveness,'” Mertz said.

Neither mentioned the constitutional spending cap, a measure aimed at ensuring fiscal responsibility that many economists blame on the wear and tear of Germany’s infrastructure.

Conservatives have clear lead in opinion polls

In most polls, the Conservatives’ lead over the Social Democrats has narrowed, but is still comfortably ahead by more than 10 percentage points. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is slightly ahead of Schöz’s party, while the Greens are in fourth place.

Mainstream parties refuse to govern alongside the AfD, but its presence complicates parliamentary arithmetic and makes unwieldy coalitions more likely.

Germany’s Olaf Scholz has lost a vote of confidence in the German parliament, paving the way for snap elections to replace the chancellor. (Lise Nisner)

Scholz outlined a series of measures that could be passed with opposition support before the election, including $11 billion in tax cuts and increased child benefits that former coalition partners have agreed to.

Conservatives have also signaled they may support measures to better protect the Constitutional Court from the machinations of future populist or anti-democratic governments and to provide mass subsidized transport vouchers.

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Measures to ease the unexpected burden on taxpayers could also pass if local governments agree, but Merz rejected the green energy price cut proposal and said he wanted a completely new energy policy.

Green Party chancellor candidate Robert Habeck said this was a worrying sign for German democracy as it became increasingly likely that different parties would once again govern together in a divided political landscape.

“It’s unlikely that the next administration will make things easier,” Habeck said.

Alternative for Germany leader Alice Weidel has called for all Syrian refugees in Germany to be repatriated after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.