Every additional day with this government is a lost day…We are calling for new elections as quickly as possible
Admin l Thursday, November 07, 2024
BERLIN – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the man hoping to replace him, Friedrich Merz, held discussions in Berlin for around 30 minutes on Thursday following the collapse of the country’s centre-left coalition.
The meeting held as industry leaders call for a snap election in the shortest possible time.
The opposition leader arrived on foot at the Chancellery at 12:25 pm (1125 GMT) and left the government headquarters shortly after 1 pm. No details about the content or outcomes of the meeting have been revealed yet.
Merz is calling on Scholz to allow a new election to be organized much sooner than the chancellor is aiming for, with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader considering a possible election date in the second half of January.
Merz’s CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the lower house of parliament, or Bundestag, unanimously urged the chancellor in a resolution on Thursday morning to table a vote of confidence immediately, and no later than the start of next week.
Scholz announced on Wednesday that he intends to table a vote of confidence in the Bundestag on January 15 and then aim for an early election at the end of March.
In the afternoon, Merz also plans to meet German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at his official Berlin residence, Bellevue Palace, to discuss how to proceed.
Meanwhile, representatives of German industry have called for a snap election following the collapse of the centre-left coalition.
“Every additional day with this government is a lost day,” emphasized Dirk Jandura, president of the Federal Association of Wholesale, Foreign Trade and Services (BGA). “We are calling for new elections as quickly as possible.”
Christoph Ahlhaus, the managing director of the German Association for Small and Medium-sized Businesses (BVMW), stressed that a vote of confidence in January as planned by Chancellor Olaf Scholz would be far too late.
“This chancellor no longer has any trust,” he said.
The Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), the Association of the Chemical Industry (VCI), and the Association of the Electrical and Digital Industry (ZVEI) also demanded a snap election.
VDA President Hildegard Müller said that the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, Donald Trump’s election victory in the United States, a new European Commission, unresolved trade issues with China, and the uncompetitive state of Germany as a business location required a maximally capable and decisive federal government as soon as possible.
In the view of Peter Adrian, president of the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), the German economy currently needs nothing more than confidence in an economic policy course that finally improves the conditions for investment and growth. Hence, he expressed hope for a short transitional phase.
Tim-Oliver Müller, chief executive of the German Construction Industry Association, described the timing of the centre-left coalition collapse a few days before the decision on the supplementary budget for 2024 and the budget resolution for the coming year as bitter for the economy.
In the crisis, he said, it is the hour for political responsibility from all democratic parties.
“Including the opposition, led by the [conservative Christian Democratic Union] CDU with [its leader] Friedrich Merz,” Müller highlighted.
“They are all now called upon to support at least the supplementary budget for 2024 and ideally an emergency budget for 2025 – so that Germany does not come to a standstill,” Müller said.
