Germany's election campaigning kicks off in parliament

Tax relief, economic development, child benefit increases, the extension of the Deutschland-Ticket monthly public transport pass — those are just four of around 100 draft laws now stalled in the legislature since last week's collapse of the governing coalition.

The government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been left high and dry now that his center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens no longer have a parliamentary majority after the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP) left the coalition.

Addressing the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, on Wednesday, Scholz confirmed he would pave the way for a new election by calling a confidence vote on December 16. Subsequently, the German president will dissolve parliament, with February 23 now set as the election date.

CDU/CSU do not want to be a 'substitute'

Nevertheless, despite the election campaign, the current Bundestag will remain fundamentally competent to work and make decisions until the newly elected parliament meets for the first time. The chancellor sees this as an opportunity.

"We should use the time we have now and pass very important laws together for the citizens that do not tolerate delay, that are necessary," Scholz said.

In a direct appeal to the largest opposition group, the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian partners, the Christian Social Union (CSU), the chancellor said, "For the good of the country, let us work together until the new election."

But the CDU may not be so willing to do that across the board. CDU leader Friedrich Merz found some sharp words as he settled his scores with Scholz. 

"If you still want to complete certain projects of your broken government with our help, then we say to you: From this point on, you have no conditions to set," Merz said. "We won't be the backup option for your broken government."

No budget for 2025 means a lack of money

Merz, who will run as the CDU/CSU's chancellor candidate next year, stressed it was possible to talk about individual measures only after the way for the new election had been paved.

"After we have decided on the vote of confidence, not before, because we do not trust promises they make to us beforehand," he said in parliament.

There is not much that the CDU/CSU is still willing to support. "We will support an amendment to the Basic Law that strengthens the position of the Federal Constitutional Court in our constitutional structure," said Merz. In addition, one could imagine the election of an additional or a new judge to the Federal Constitutional Court. But the list ends there.

"Some decisions, Mr. Chancellor, that you might like to see will objectively not be possible at all since we will enter the next year without an approved federal budget."

Where is Germany heading?

During the ensuing debate, during which all the parties fired off several broadsides against one another, it became clear that the coming election campaign would be key to determining Germany's direction.

Scholz once again asserted that his coalition had failed because of a row over finances. The SPD and the Greens had repeatedly called for the so-called "debt brake" to be reformed and unsuccessfully pushed the FDP to take on additional loans.

According to Scholz, the FDP had insisted on playing foreign, domestic, economic and social security policies against each other financially. He said he could not allow that.

"I will never ask people to choose between investing in our security or in good jobs and the economy and infrastructure," said Scholz. He added that it was irresponsible to choose between either spending money on the Bundeswehr or secure pensions, or: "Either we support Ukraine or we invest in Germany."

Rolling back progressive policies

Merz did not make any specific comments on how his conservatives would deal with finances if they won the election. However, it's clear that a government led by him would want to spend less money on social welfare.

The CDU/CSU has also decided to roll back the Greens' energy policy. "We want to move away from the one-sided focus on wind and solar energy, e-mobility and heating systems using renewables," the CDU leader told lawmakers.

Merz also sees a real need for change in other policy areas. "Germany needs a fundamentally different policy, especially in migration policy, in foreign, security and European policy and in economic policy," he said on Wednesday. 

Future coalition building

The CDU/CSU are clearly ahead in the polls. If they were to win, however, the CDU/CSU would have to rely on finding partners to form a coalition government. Therefore, the SPD and Green Party lawmakers have urged reconciliation.

Merz is also aware of this fact, and has already said he could imagine working with the FDP. He has, however, ruled out any coalition with the Left Party, the populist Sahra Wagenknecht Aliance (BSW) and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

"Neither before nor after nor at any other time will there be any cooperation between my parliamentary group and those people, regardless of how many representatives they will have in the next German Bundestag," Merz vowed.

This article was originally written in German.

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