Political crisis, Germany may hold early elections

(CLO) German opposition parties and business groups on Thursday urged Chancellor Olaf Scholz to quickly hold an early election to ease the political crisis after his three-party coalition government collapsed.

Policy disagreements cause ruling coalition to fall apart

The ruling coalition fell apart on Wednesday as years of tensions came to a head in a row over how to fill a multibillion-euro hole in the budget and revive Europe's largest economy, which is heading for a second year of recession.

Chancellor Scholz said he would hold a confidence vote in January, which he was likely to lose, leading to a new election at the end of March – six months earlier than expected.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Photo: Reuters

Mr Scholz, of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), said he had sacked Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the fiscally conservative Free Democrats (FDP) for obstructing the resolution of budget disputes.

The final straw was Mr Lindner's opposition to Mr Scholz's plan to ease the debt limit to increase support for Ukraine in the 2025 budget by €3 billion.

Lindner's dismissal led to the FDP leaving the ruling coalition, leaving Scholz's SPD and the Greens to run a minority government in the German parliament, which will struggle to push through any major policies.

Joerg Kukies, a senior official in the German Chancellor's Office and a close associate of Mr Scholz in the SPD, will be appointed as the new finance minister.

Mr Scholz postponed his departure for the European Union summit in Budapest on Thursday due to the domestic crisis and also cancelled his attendance at the UN COP29 climate change summit.

Early elections to save a stagnant economy and political instability?

Friedrich Merz, leader of the opposition conservatives, who are leading in national polls, called for a confidence vote “at the beginning of next week at the latest”, in comments echoed by other opposition parties. He said the election could take place by the end of January.

"We cannot have a government without a majority in Germany for many more months, followed by many more months of election campaigning and possibly many more weeks of coalition negotiations," Mr Merz told reporters.

German industry, struggling with high costs and fierce competition from Asia, also urged Mr Scholz's government on Thursday to call an election as soon as possible.

The uncertainty sent German borrowing costs soaring, with the benchmark 10-year yield rising as much as 10 basis points to its highest level since July.

The rise of both left-wing and right-wing populist parties in Germany, as elsewhere in Europe, means that even a new election would not easily produce a unified coalition with a clear majority.

"You don't have to be a prophet to deduce that... things won't automatically get easier in the future, even after the next election," said Green Party economics minister Robert Habeck.

Bui Huy (according to DW, Reuters)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/khung-hoang-chinh-tri-duc-co-the-to-chuc-bau-cu-som-post320479.html