Olaf Scholz loses the vote of confidence in Parliament and clears the way for early elections

Everything has gone as expected. This Monday, the German chancellor Olaf Scholz has lost the motion of confidence in it Bundestag, the lower house of Parliament. Scholz has obtained 207 votes of the 733 total seats, a figure very far from the majority of 367 that he needed to stay in power.

In reality, losing was his goal. Because mores than a real examination, the vote has been a first formal step to be able to call early elections in the country after the Government collapsed a little over a month ago.

It was, in fact, the liberal party the one that in November abandoned the traffic light coalition (name given because of the colors of the three parties that made it up) and left Scholz’s social democrats and the Greens in a minority at the head of a country that is going through a serious economic crisis.

During his speech prior to the vote, Scholz has defined early elections as an opportunity for voters set a new course for Germany. He has also presented them as a choice between a future of greater investment “and one of cuts,” he said in relation to the conservatives, who lead all the polls.

In principle, the chancellor will remain as interim leader until a new Executive can be formed after the elections. These will be celebrated on February 23or at least that is the unofficial date to go to the polls agreed by the parliamentary groups. However, the appointment must be endorsed by the federal president Frank-Walter Steinmeierwhich has already announced that it will dissolve the courts first.

Urgent measures

After the collapse of the coalition, the Executive has not had time to approve the 2025 budgets. To avoid a financial blackoutthe Ministry of Finance hopes to present provisional accounts for next year, when the new Government is expected to give the green light to definitive budgets.

For his part, Scholz has outlined a list of urgent measures that could also be approved with the support of the opposition. before the electionsincluding 11 billion euros ($11.55 billion) of tax cuts and an increase in child benefits already agreed to by former coalition partners.

Measures to address fiscal drag – the tendency of inflation to move taxpayers into higher tax brackets – and high energy prices are less likely to succeed.

In any case, until there is a new plan, the German government has the ability to meet legal payment obligations, such as social security payments, pension subsidies and defense contracts, without restrictions. However, ministries will initially only be able to spend 45% of the allocated funds.