Today he became the fifth chancellor in the history of the Federal Republic to ask the Bundestag, a necessary step, in order not to receive it and lead the country to early elections. Thus, the MPs will vote on Monday and are expected to formally open the way to the ballot box, which is set for .
Based on the data so far, on December 16 Olaf Solz will not be able to secure a majority in the federal parliament. That afternoon, Scholz will ask the President of the Republic Frank-Walter Steinmeier to dissolve the Bundestag and call early elections within 60 days.
In his brief statement, Soltz emphasized that in the time remaining until the elections, the Parliament can approve bills that “do not get adjournment”, but also need the support of the opposition.
Among the necessary legislative initiatives according to the chancellor are:
- Increase in child benefit to support families
- Tax relief for families and small and medium enterprises
- Single ticket in Germany for public transport
- Stabilization of energy prices from January.
Olaf Solz is chancellor of a minority government of Social Democrats and Greens, which has only 315 of the 733 votes in the Bundestag, when 367 would be needed, after the ouster of Finance Minister Christian Lindner and the withdrawal of the Liberal centrists from the three-party governing coalition.
Interest in Monday’s vote is now focused on the numbers for its outcome.
The Green parliamentary group has already announced that it will abstain from the vote. At least this is the directive of the leadership, which stated that it considers it correct to hold early elections. “For an election to take place, the vote of confidence must fail. We will make it possible with the abstention of our MPs”, said the two heads of K.O. Britta Hasselman and Katarina Drege.
According to an analysis by the ntv television network, the reason for choosing to abstain was that, if the Greens voted for the chancellor, there would be 52 votes left, which the (76) Alternative for Germany (AfD) MPs could cast in order to to delay the holding of elections.
AfD lawmaker Jürgen Paul has said he intends in Monday’s vote to express his confidence in the chancellor, whom he described as “the lesser evil”, compared to Christian Union (CDU/CSU) chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz. AfD leaders, however, such as leader Alice Weidel, have in the past been in favor of early elections.
In his brief statement, Soltz stressed that in the time left until the elections, the Federal Parliament can approve bills that “do not get postponed”, but also need the support of the opposition.
Among the necessary legislative initiatives according to Soltz are:
· Increasing the child benefit to support families
· Tax relief for families and small and medium enterprises
· Single ticket in Germany for public transport
· Stabilization of energy prices from January.
