Germany’s conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz has slammed Chancellor Olaf Scholz, describing his decision to delay a confidence vote until next year as “irresponsible”.
Merz, who leads the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), accused Scholz on Friday of being steered by “party-political motives” after he declined calls for an immediate parliamentary vote of confidence following the collapse of his rocky three-way coalition government this week.
The “vast majority” of the German electorate agreed with his view that Scholz, who now leads a minority government with his Social Democrats and the Greens after the Free Democrats (FDP) party exited the coalition, was being “irresponsible”, Merz said.
Opposition parties and business groups want an immediate vote, which Scholz would likely lose, enabling elections to be held eight months ahead of schedule in January, a move that they say will minimise political uncertainty.
But Merz, who met Scholz on Thursday, failed to convince the chancellor to budge from his original plan, meaning new elections would not be held until the end of March.
Some 65 percent of German voters are in favour of prompt new elections, while just 33 percent support Scholz’s timeline, according to a poll for public broadcaster ARD released on Friday.
Scholz, attending a meeting of European leaders in Budapest, spoke on the sidelines of the summit on Friday. He urged a “calm debate” first on what laws can pass parliament this year under his minority government.
This “could help answer the question of when the right time is” for a confidence vote leading to an early election, he said.
Scholz’s comments in Hungary threw the ball back into the opposition’s court, urging them to help finish up crucial government business first in the Bundestag lower house of parliament.
“It would be good if an agreement could now be reached among the democratic groupings in the Bundestag on which laws can be passed this year,” the chancellor said.
“The election date is not a purely political” decision, he said, adding that the timing must also “allow sufficient time for the organisation of a fair and democratic election”.
Scholz’s coalition fell apart on Wednesday when years of tensions culminated in a row over how to plug a multibillion-euro hole in the budget, with the chancellor sacking Finance Minister Christian Lindner, prompting the FDP to leave the government.
As parties positioned themselves, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck of the Greens party, a 55-year-old former novelist and philosopher, is set to fire the starting pistol on his own bid to become chancellor, according to news outlet Der Spiegel, quoting party sources.
The break-up creates a leadership vacuum at the heart of the European Union just as it seeks a united response to the election of Donald Trump as United States president on issues ranging from Russia’s war in Ukraine to the future of the US-led NATO alliance.
In Budapest on Friday, Scholz pledged to work with Trump, but stressed that the 27-nation European bloc must remain strong in light of conflicts in Europe and the Middle East.
“One question is quite clear. Together as the European Union, as Europeans, we must do what is necessary for our security,” he said.
Eyeing the top job, Merz adopted a more strident tone, calling on Europe to take a tougher stance during the upcoming Trump presidency.
“This will make an impression in America,” he said on a talk show aired by German public broadcaster ZDF on Thursday evening. “Donald Trump is not impressed by weakness, only by strength, even opposition.”
The ZDF Politbarometer, an opinion poll, confirmed that 84 percent of Germans want an election as soon as possible. Some 54 percent want it to happen before Scholz’s projected timeline.
