Summary
After a lively, sometimes rowdy, German Bundestag debate, this is what we learnt:
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will ask for a vote of confidence on 16 December, paving the way forward for an early parliamentary election in February.
Striking an unusually fiery tone, Scholz said he was right to fire Christian Lindner as his finance minister last week, triggering the collapse of his three-party coalition and early elections.
The German chancellor urged all parties to pass outstanding bills on child benefit and fiscal drag. He also called for greater protection of the German Constitutional court, which mainstream parties fear could be damaged, if the far-right and far-left make gains in the elections and seek to block appointments to the court.
Opposition leader Friedrich Merz, who polls suggest will become Germany’s next chancellor, denounced Scholz’s record. He also pledged to backtrack Germany’s climate policies and expel migrants at the border as part of a “totally different” approach to migration.
Earlier in the day, Merz indicated openness to reform of Germany’s debt brake, strict spending limits enshrined in the constitution that ultimately tore apart the outgoing coalition. It could be a significant step from a fiscal hawk, but we don’t know yet what he has in mind.
In her contribution Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock was forced on the defensive after her Green co-leader Robert Habeck had to miss the debate because a broken-down government plane kept him grounded in Lisbon.
Ousted finance minister Christian Lindner defended his approach to the debt brake, the issue that broke the government apart.
Far-right leader Alice Weidel lambasted the government and opposition in an angry speech, where she outlined her policies of deporting all undocumented migrants in Germany, reversing the planned ban on combustion engines and continuing to burn coal.
This brings an end to our live coverage. Thank you for following today and don’t forget to check out all our coverage of Germany.
The leader of the far right Alternative für Deutschland party Alice Weidel has given an angry speech, spitting in rage and frustration at both Olaf Scholz’s government and the opposition conservatives, who she said had collaborated as architects in the downfall of Germany.
She pledged a 100 day plan, should the AfD get into government which would overturn the main policies introduced by Scholz’s government. The most headline making of them, is her pledge to immediately instigate a mass deportation of all undocumented migrants in Germany, in what commentators have compared to the policies Donald Trump is expected to enact when he enters office.
Weidel also pledged the reinstatement of Germany’s defunct nuclear power stations, the continued use of its coal fired power plants, a reversal of the planned ban on combustion engines, an overturn of gender policies and a controlled use of cannabis, among other u-turn promises.
She described Scholz’s government as “headless” and “lacking in dignity” and accused it of failing to demonstrate an ounce of humility to accept it had driven Germany into the economic turmoil it finds itself in.
The AfD leader described Merz as a potential “ersatz Scholz” and no alternative to the current government, saying he and his colleagues had been among the main authors of the chaos Germany found itself in now.
The CDU’s “mother of sins”, she said, had been allowing millions of refugees into the country, under the 16 year leadership of Angela Merkel. She described this “flood” of people as having consisted of largely criminal, lazy newcomers, who were a burden to ordinary Germans, robbing them of their chance of prosperity and safety. She referred to Merkel, as “the best chancellor the Greens ever had,” a dig at Merkel’s sympathy for environmental concerns.
Leaning into the podium from which she spoke, digging her heels into the floor, as she moved forwards and backwards, Weidel’s angry shouts were met with applause and cries of support from her fellow party members.
She said Germans “just want normality and they have a right to that”, but they would only get this if the AfD was - as the second most popular party in the Bundestag - allowed to participate in a government, something which all mainstream parties have ruled out.
The debate continues in the Bundestag, but it is unlikely to get a more provocative speech than that delivered by Weidel. Once again, is a foretaste of the election campaign to come over the coming months.
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