Scholz announces vote of confidence
Published: Wednesday, Nov 6th 2024, 22:50
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Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to call a vote of confidence. The SPD politician said in Berlin that the Bundestag should vote on this on January 15.
Scholz had previously dismissed his Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) after he proposed a new Bundestag election.
Scholz sharply attacked Lindner in his speech. He said that Lindner had broken his trust too often.
Lindner proposed new elections
Lindner reportedly suggested that the "traffic light" parties should jointly seek new elections for the beginning of 2025 as quickly as possible, as in 2005, in order to enable a new government for Germany "in an orderly and dignified manner". The FDP would be prepared to jointly adopt the supplementary budget for 2024 and be part of a caretaker federal government.
Prior to this, the leaders of the SPD, Greens and FDP had spent two and a half hours discussing ways out of the traffic light crisis. The main issue was how to plug the billion-euro hole in the 2025 budget and get the badly battered German economy back on track.
Lindner had proclaimed an "autumn of decisions"
Some time ago, Lindner proclaimed the "autumn of decisions" for the coalition. He was referring primarily to next year's budget, which was to be passed in the Bundestag on November 29. He was also concerned with a strategy for leading Germany out of the economic crisis. To this end, he made proposals that escalated the dispute within the coalition. In his concept for an economic turnaround, Lindner calls for, among other things, the permanent abolition of the solidarity surcharge, including for high earners, and a change of course in climate policy.
There was considerable resistance to such ideas from the SPD and the Greens. However, Habeck also took a step towards Lindner. On Monday, he declared his willingness to use the billions in subsidies freed up after the postponement of the construction of an Intel plant in Magdeburg to plug budget holes.
©Keystone/SDA
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