Close Menu
WTX News
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Trending
    • Starmer is right to be buoyed after conference but he has a very long road ahead
    • JA on F1 podcast: Keeping up appearances F1 style
    • Danny Dyer tells daughter Dani to ‘pull her big girl knickers up’ after Strictly
    • Greggs increasing prices tomorrow due to higher employment costs
    • Rock & Roll It podcast Asia Cup 2025 review
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    WTX News
    • Live News
      • US News
      • EU News
      • UK News
      • Politics
      • COVID-19
      • Business
      • Tech zone
    • World news
      • Middle East News
        • UAE News
        • Palestine News
      • Europe
        • Italian News
        • Spanish News
      • Africa news
      • South America
      • North America
      • Asia
    • News Briefings
      • UK News Briefing
      • World News Briefing
      • Live Business News
    • Sports
      • Football News
      • Tennis
      • Women’s Football
    • MY World
      • Climate Change
      • In Review
      • Expose
      • Special Reports
        • Conscience Convoy
        • Rohingya Report
    • Entertainment
      • Insta Talk
      • Royal Family
      • Gaming News
      • TV Shows
      • Streaming
    • Lifestyle
      • Fitness
      • Fashion
      • Cooking recipes
      • Luxury
      • Money Saving Expert
    • Travel
      • Culture
      • Holidays
    • Sign Up
      • Log In
    WTX News
    • Live News
    • World news
    • News Briefings
    • Sports
    • MY World
    • Entertainment
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
    • Sign Up
    Home - Europe - German chancellor faces confidence vote on first step to election
    Europe Updated:December 16, 2024

    German chancellor faces confidence vote on first step to election

    By Olga Winter - EU Newsdesk3 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Telegram WhatsApp
    German chancellor faces confidence vote on first step to election

    Chancellor Olaf Scholz faces a confidence vote in the German parliament on Monday that he is expected to lose.

    Defeat would pave the way for the European Union’s most populous member and biggest economy to hold an early election in February.

    Mr Scholz’s notoriously rancorous three-party government collapsed on November 6 when the chancellor fired his finance minister in a long-running dispute over how to revitalise Germany’s stagnant economy and the minister’s pro-business party quit the coalition.

    That left the remaining two centre-left partners without a majority in parliament.

    Leaders of several major parties agreed that a parliamentary election should be held on February 23, seven months earlier than originally planned.

    The chairman of the German Christian Democratic Party (CDU) Friedrich Merz (AP

    Post-World War II Germany’s constitution does not allow parliament’s lower house, or Bundestag, to dissolve itself so a confidence vote is needed to set in motion the early election.

    Mr Scholz’s Social Democrats hold 207 seats in the Bundestag and are expected to vote for the chancellor.

    Their remaining coalition partners, the environmentalist Greens, have 117 and plan to abstain. That should mean Mr Scholz gets nowhere near the majority of 367 in the 733-seat chamber needed to win the confidence vote.

    If he loses, it will be up to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to decide whether to dissolve the Bundestag.

    Mr Steinmeier, who said last month that “this country needs stable majorities and a government that is capable of acting,” has 21 days to make that decision. Once parliament is dissolved, the election must be held within 60 days.

    In practice, the campaign is already well underway.

    As he formally requested the confidence vote on Wednesday, Mr Scholz said that voters will “decide in the election how we answer the big questions that we face”.

    Those, he said, include whether Germany decides to “invest strongly in our future,” secure jobs and modernise its industry, keep pension levels stable and “come closer to a just peace in Ukraine without Germany being drawn into the war.”

    Germany has become Ukraine’s biggest military supplier in Europe, but Mr Scholz has refused to supply long-range Taurus cruise missiles over concerns of escalating the war with Russia.

    Centre-right challenger Friedrich Merz on Saturday predicted “one of the hardest election campaigns” in modern German history, as Mr Scholz’s Social Democrats “have their backs to the wall.”

    He said that it is crucial to make the economy more competitive, because “the competitiveness of our economy is the precondition for everything else.”

    Polls show Mr Scholz’s party trailing behind Mr Merz’s main opposition Union bloc. Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, whose Greens are further back, is also bidding for the top job.

    The far-right Alternative for Germany, which is polling strongly, has nominated Alice Weidel as its candidate for chancellor but has no chance of taking the job because other parties refuse to work with it.

    Confidence votes are rare in Germany, a country of 83 million people that prizes stability. This is only the sixth time in its post-war history that a chancellor has called one.

    The last was in 2005 when then-Chancellor Gerhard Schroder engineered an early election that was narrowly won by centre-right challenger Angela Merkel.

    German chancellor faces confidence vote on first step to election

    News Just in

    Starmer is right to be buoyed after conference but he has a very long road ahead

    WTX News Editor

    Cliff Notes Sir Keir Starmer expressed relief after delivering a much-anticipated speech that aimed to unify the Labour Party against rival Nigel Farage, framing the

    Read More »

    JA on F1 podcast: Keeping up appearances F1 style

    WTX Sports Team

    Formula 1: A Season of Identity and Presentation for Teams and Drivers As the Formula 1 season heats up, the importance of team identity and

    Read More »

    EU Trending Germany politics Irish Examiner The Irish News Trending Politics World News
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email Telegram WhatsApp
    Previous ArticleBarcelona cleaning workers before the strike: “We are an invisible collective” | News from Catalonia
    Next Article Full transparency must always surround public appointments
    Olga Winter - EU Newsdesk
    • Facebook
    • X (Twitter)

    Olga Winter is a specialist editor writing about current affairs on the EU news desk for WTX News. Based in Brussels she ideally suited to the address the domestic and global affairs of the European continent, with assignments that include expose and In Review features for specialist reports..

    Related Posts

    Starmer is right to be buoyed after conference but he has a very long road ahead
    London

    Starmer is right to be buoyed after conference but he has a very long road ahead

    All GP surgeries in England must offer online booking from today
    Politics

    All GP surgeries in England must offer online booking from today

    PM to make major NHS announcement in pivotal conference speech | Politics News
    Liverpool news

    PM to make major NHS announcement in pivotal conference speech | Politics News

    Chancellor to make case for ‘contribution’ ahead of youth jobs guarantee
    Liverpool news

    Chancellor to make case for ‘contribution’ ahead of youth jobs guarantee

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    You must be logged in to post a comment.

    Advertisment
    News Headlines
    Starmer is right to be buoyed after conference but he has a very long road ahead

    Starmer is right to be buoyed after conference but he has a very long road ahead

    Greggs increasing prices tomorrow due to higher employment costs

    Greggs increasing prices tomorrow due to higher employment costs

    Save 70% on VIP subscription
    News Briefings - the way to a better life
    News Briefings - the way to a better life
    Advert by Sponsors
    More from WTX News
    The latest gaming news - with game reviews and tips and tricks. updated 24 hours a day.
    The latest gaming news
    Hot off the press!
    • Starmer is right to be buoyed after conference but he has a very long road ahead October 1, 2025
    • JA on F1 podcast: Keeping up appearances F1 style October 1, 2025
    • Danny Dyer tells daughter Dani to ‘pull her big girl knickers up’ after Strictly October 1, 2025
    • Greggs increasing prices tomorrow due to higher employment costs October 1, 2025
    • Rock & Roll It podcast Asia Cup 2025 review October 1, 2025
    WTX News latest breaking news sports and travel
    Latest News and analysis - Deciphering through the BS with exclusive News Briefings
    Facebook X (Twitter) TikTok Instagram

    News

    • World News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • EU News
    • Business
    • Opinions
    • News Briefing
    • Live News

    Company

    • About WTX News
    • Register
    • Advertising
    • Work with us
    • Contact
    • Community
    • GDPR Policy
    • Privacy

    Services

    • Fitness for free
    • Insta Talk
    • How to guides
    • Climate Change
    • In Review
    • Expose
    • NEWS SUMMARY
    • Money Saving Expert

    News delivered to your inbox

    Copyright WTX News 2025

    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.