Olaf Scholz could hold a vote of confidence in his leadership that would pave the way for new elections sooner than planned, he said Sunday night following pressure from across the political spectrum.
In a televised interview with ARD journalist Caren Miosga, Scholz said a confidence vote before Christmas was possible: “If everyone sees it that way, it’s not a problem.”
After his coalition collapsed on Wednesday, Scholz announced a confidence vote in his government would be held in January, likely followed by an election in March.
But multiple politicians, including from within Scholz’s own ruling coalition, have been pushing for him to bring the date forward.
“What the chancellor has in mind is not a good idea,” Green lawmaker Anton Hofreiter, who chairs Germany’s EU affairs committee, told BILD. “Olaf Scholz should ask for a vote of confidence in December so that everything can be clarified before Christmas and the New Year.”
Hofreiter and his Green colleague Irene Mihalic, who also spoke to BILD, are two of the most senior politicians from within Scholz’s governing coalition to back the call for an earlier election.
Scholz wants to take the “snap” out of any future election in order to finalize certain pieces of legislation — which could help him portray himself as a responsible leader taking care of business when an election does arrive.
But various German politicians have called for earlier elections, including opposition leader Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who has called several times for Scholz to schedule a confidence vote as early as Wednesday and accused him of “clinging” to power.
Speaking Sunday, Scholz said of the demand to hold the vote as soon as possible: “It’s not all that simple.”
He also said his Social Democratic Party (SPD) has a “good chance” of winning a new election. The SPD currently trails the CDU by 17 points in the polls, according to BILD.
To force Scholz from office, rather than waiting for the chancellor to seal his own fate with a confidence vote he would likely lose, Merz would need votes from far-right or far-left parties.
Scholz and Merz spoke on Friday, but their meeting ended in disagreement, DW reported.
During his Sunday evening interview, Scholz said he has sent congratulations to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, and that a call between the two men is “on the way.”
Trump has already spoken with several other European leaders such as France’s Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and the United Kingdom’s Keir Starmer.
When asked about the challenges of dealing with Trump, Scholz said: “I am never naive, but I am also fearless,” adding: “We dance with whomever is in the room.” He said he expects that “the most powerful democracy in the world” will continue to be Germany’s partner.
Asked about a social media jab from billionaire Elon Musk, Scholz said: “It ennobles me,” but declined to add further comment.
