Germany said to be set for Feb 23 election

BERLIN – Germany is set to hold fresh elections on Feb 23, 2025, 11 weeks after the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s governing coalition, with sources on Nov 12 saying he could ask Parliament to vote him out of office on Dec 16.

The date is a compromise between the conservative opposition, who wanted a vote in January 2025 for fear of leaving Germany rudderless at a time of economic and diplomatic crisis, and Mr Scholz, who wanted a mid-March election to give the authorities and parties more time to prepare.

Inflation, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, intensifying competition from China and

US President-elect Donald Trump’s return

have combined to create a perfect storm for Germany, whose economy, Europe’s largest, prospered from abundant energy, and a benign, pro-trade international political environment.

Tthe ZEW institute’s investor morale index collapsed on Nov 12 to 7.4 points, from 13.1 points in October, a much sharper drop than analysts had expected. “The outcome of the US presidential election is likely to be the main reason for this,” said ZEW president Achim Wambach.

A government with a clear majority would be better able to broach topics like Germany’s debt brake, blamed by many economists for the country’s low investment rate, or to make money available for strategic industries.

Mr Friedrich Merz, head of the Christian Democrats and tipped to become chancellor, has so far ruled out scrapping the debt brake. On Nov 12, he promised a major tax reform.

“It is important that we get new elections as soon as possible,” Mr Carsten Linnemann, general secretary of Mr Merz’s Christian Democrats, told public TV before the date became known.

The Dec 16 vote, at which Parliament will express its lack of confidence in Mr Scholz, is the trigger that will let President Frank-Walter Steinmeier call new elections.

Mr Scholz, who runs a minority government with the Greens’ backing, hopes to secure enough opposition support to pass laws to protect the Constitutional Court from the far right and to fund Ukraine before leaving office.

His government collapsed after months of wrangling between the two remaining parties and their erstwhile coalition partner, the neo-liberal Free Democrats, who demanded spending cuts on a scale their left-wing partners were unwilling to countenance.

Mr Merz’s conservatives have a wide lead in the polls, but in an era of high voter volatility, both the Social Democratic Party and the Greens are insisting, at least publicly, they can recover enough ground over the coming three months to pip Mr Merz at the post. REUTERS