- The German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) wants to run as a candidate for chancellor in the new elections. Habeck announced this in a video on YouTube.
- Meanwhile, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has shown himself willing to discuss the timing of a vote of confidence and the subsequent new election.
He offers the voters his strength and experience, said Habeck, and added: “If you want, also as chancellor.”
German media had previously reported on Robert Habeck’s candidacy. They also referred to a video that Habeck posted on the X platform yesterday.
In the last federal election in 2021, the Greens nominated Annalena Baerbock as their candidate for chancellor. However, the incumbent Foreign Minister announced in July that she would not run again. Next week there will be a long-planned federal party conference of Bündnis90/Die Grünen in Wiesbaden. Habeck’s candidacy for chancellor should then be officially decided by the delegates there.
Question of trust earlier?
Meanwhile, Chancellor Scholz appears willing to discuss the timing of a vote of confidence and the following new election. On the sidelines of the informal EU summit in Budapest, he called for an agreement in the Bundestag on which laws should still be passed.
“I already announced on Wednesday evening that I would like to quickly enable new elections in Germany so that there will be clarity soon after the FDP leaves the coalition. “We should discuss the date as calmly as possible,” he said. According to him, it would be good if “an agreement could be reached among the democratic factions in the Bundestag about which laws can be passed this year.”
The election date is not a date that can be set purely politically. It must also meet the requirements of the Federal Returning Officer in order to allow sufficient time to organize a fair and democratic election.
Exchange of blows in the Bundestag
After the failure of the traffic light coalition, there was an exchange of blows in the Bundestag about when there should be an early federal election. Speakers from the SPD and the Greens defended Scholz’s current schedule to ask the vote of confidence in parliament on January 15th. The new election could then take place in March. The opposition urgently renewed its calls for an earlier date.
The Parliamentary Managing Director of the Union faction, Thorsten Frei (CDU), referred to the poor economic situation and the international crises. In such a situation, a Bundestag and a Federal Chancellor who are capable of acting are needed. FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr appealed to his former coalition partners to bring about a quicker vote of confidence. The rump coalition no longer has a majority, for example for tax relief in the so-called cold progression. “Clear the way for this decision by having the Chancellor ask the German Bundestag for a vote of confidence,” said Dürr.
Scholz had announced that he wanted to put all draft laws to a vote in the Bundestag by Christmas, which, in his view, would not tolerate any delay. However, without the FDP, red-green no longer has a majority in the Bundestag.
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