German Chancellor Scholz to ask parliament to clear way

16/12/2024 13:12

Chancellor Olaf Scholz will call on Germany's parliament on Monday to declare it has no confidence in him, taking the first formal step towards securing early elections following his government's collapse.



The departure last month of the neoliberal Free Democrats from the three-way coalition left Scholz's Social Democrats and the Greens governing without a parliamentary majority just when Germany faces its deepest economic crisis in a generation.



Rules drawn up to prevent the series of short-lived and unstable governments that played an important role in helping the Nazis rise to power in the 1930s mean that the path to new elections is long and largely controlled by the chancellor.



"If legislators follow the path I am recommending, I will suggest to the President that he dissolve parliament," Scholz told reporters on Wednesday after requesting the motion.



President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said he will act accordingly after Monday's vote and agreed with parliamentary parties on Feb. 23 as the date for early elections.