BERLIN, December 13. /TASS/. Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) believes that he will be able to take the seat of the head of the federal government again.
"In fact, I am getting ever more passionate about the fight with every passing minute, every hour, every day and every week, and I want to triumph," Scholz said on Mickey Beisenhertz's Apokalypse & Filterkaffee podcast, answering a question about the upcoming debate in parliament on the vote of confidence. The chancellor recalled that even in the last federal election in 2021 he allegedly had no chance but yet he became the head of government.
"That's why I trust myself again," he stated.
At the same time, Scholz emphasized that elections were a matter in which the people had the final say.
"That is why I am now creating the possibility of holding federal elections early - not in September, but in February next year," he explained, adding that then the people of the FRG would be able to say in which direction the country should move now.
Earlier, Scholz said that he had no intention to hold the post of deputy chancellor, if Friedrich Merz, the candidate from the opposition conservative bloc of the Christian Democratic and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU), won the federal elections. The CDU/CSU currently has a rating of 30-32%, while the SPD’s popularity is at a level of 15-17%. Scholz is the Social Democrat candidate and Merz's main rival.
In a special statement on Wednesday, Scholz said he had submitted a request to the Bundestag president for a confidence vote in accordance with Article 68 of the Constitution. By doing so, he said, he wished to pave the way for early federal elections. A debate on the vote of confidence in the Bundestag is scheduled for December 16. If Bundestag deputies reject the chancellor's vote of confidence, early parliamentary elections will be held on February 23, 2025.
Germany is experiencing an acute political crisis due to disagreements within the ruling coalition over budgetary, financial and economic policies, including further support for Kiev and the issue of easing the so-called debt brake (a rule that prohibits spending more money from the budget than it receives). On November 6, Scholz decided to dismiss Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP). The coalition collapsed.