While Scholz plans on holding a parliamentary vote of confidence on January 15 which would head into an early March election, he will in the meantime be counting on support from opposition leaders such as conservative Freidrich Merz to push policy through, BBC reports. This includes the 2025 budget which will reportedly be agreed upon next week, as well as additional aid measures for Ukraine as it battles Russia in an ongoing war. Scholz's left-wing coalition has been vocally critical of United States president-elect Donald Trump and his eagerness to end the conflict and cease the flow of American tax dollars to Ukraine.
However, Merz, who is eyeing the Chancellor seat as well, has called for an immediate vote of confidence and snap elections in January. Other opposition parties have as well.
“We just cannot afford to have a government without a majority for several months, and then another few months of election campaigning, and then possibly another few months of coalition negotiations,” he said.
“He broke my trust too often,” said the chancellor when questioned about why he sacked Lindner, the leader of the free-market liberal FDP, who he said was egotistical and irresponsible for suggesting lower taxes and spending cuts for environmental issues over increasing the country's debt.
