Confidence vote only item on agenda in Bundestag session
Today’s session in the Bundestag lower house of parliament has one item on the agenda: the confidence vote. Chancellor Olaf Scholz triggered this path to new elections on 23 February by firing his finance minister Christian Lindner last month, which led Lindner’s pro-business Free Democrats to quit the government, robbing it of a majority.
The dramatic developments came after months of infighting over fiscal priorities and ideological differences that finally became too much for Germany’s first three-way federal coalition to bear. The centre-left Social Democrats and ecologist Greens will continue running the EU’s top economy until a new government can be formed, probably in the spring.
Key events
On a day of more-or-less memorable speeches, Scholz’s broadside against his former finance minister Lindner that governance requires a sittliche Reife, an old-fashioned expression meaning, roughly, moral maturity, seems to have legs. The chancellor’s finger-wagging admonition drew howls from the opposition.
Lindner’s Free Democrats will have to struggle to make it into the next parliament. A recent poll put the centre-right CDU/CSU on 31%, followed by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) on 18%, Scholz’s SPD on 17% and the Greens on 13%. The FDP and new leftwing conservative Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance are both scoring right around the 5% threshold for parliamentary representation.
Christian Lindner, who sat through fierce attacks by Scholz at the start of the debate, comes out swinging in his speech. “Olaf Scholz showed again today that he has no strength for fundamental changes – his answers completely fail to address the deep problems of inadequate fitness for economic competition.”
Habeck, known for a philosophical approach in politics, warned that while European countries such as Germany and France were “occupied with themselves”, the world with its major crises continued to turn. “Now we have this sense of insecurity in a time when we need reassurance.” He said the confidence vote was more than a “technical question” but rather about how politicians can win back voters’ trust.
Greens accuse Merz of being incapable of forging consensus
But Habeck notes that the next government will inevitably face similar problems, regardless of the parties that make it up, requiring “compromises” and a united desire to address Germany’s mounting challenges. He accuses the notoriously hot-tempered Merz of being incapable of forging such a consensus, or being unwilling to.
Vice-chancellor and economy minister Robert Habeck of the Greens begins his speech acknowledging that the government had failed to surmount its daunting policy differences. “We were annoyed with each other and the traffic light coalition in many ways deserved its bad reputation,” he said, referring to the colours of the three parties in the failed alliance.
Merz accuses Scholz of undermining Germany on the European stage
Merz is also clearly in campaign mode, pushing back against hecklers in the chamber and laying into Scholz and his government’s record. “Olaf Scholz was not able to lead the coalition successfully as chancellor,” Merz said, noting that the three parties “by the end didn’t belong together at all”. The conservative opposition leader said that Scholz’s deficient leadership qualities undermined Germany’s place on the European stage. “It is embarrassing how you acted in the European Union.”
Merz takes Scholz to task for his harsh attacks in his speech on the FDP and its leader, Christian Lindner. “You talked a lot about respect,” Merz said, referring to one of the leitmotifs of the Social Democrat’s political rhetoric. “But apparently your respect stops when it comes to other political opinions.” Merz called Scholz’s treatment of the FDP as the government collapsed “eine blanke Unverschämtheit” – sheer impudence. There has been rampant speculation whether Merz would seek out the FDP as a potential coalition partner after the election as the liberals’ reputation has suffered in the current crisis. Today’s show of support by Merz will be noted by pundits and the other parties.
Merz: ‘Today is a day of relief’
Christian Democrat leader Friedrich Merz, who is expected to succeed Scholz as Germany’s next chancellor after the February election, begins his rebuttal speech saying that Scholz should have immediately called the confidence vote after the government’s collapse last month. “I can describe today as a day of relief,” he said of the imminent vote.
Wrapping up, Scholz sounds a positive note after a rather gloomy political season: “Our country has so much that’s good in it,” he said. “We are a country that goes to work every day, a country that sticks together and places cohesion over division, a country whose best days are not behind it but rather ahead of it.”
