By Tom Sims
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz came under increasing pressure on Sunday to bring forward a vote of confidence in parliament that would pave the way for snap elections following the collapse of his governing coalition.
Two leading members of the Green party, which is sharing power with Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) in a minority government, told Bild newspaper that the confidence vote should be held in December, earlier than the chancellor’s plans for January.
Europe’s largest economy was thrown into disarray last week with the collapse of Scholz’s three-way coalition and disagreements over how much money the government should spend to encourage growth and support Ukraine.
Greens Anton Hofreiter and Irene Mihalic are the most prominent voices so far from the two parties still in power to back an earlier vote. A confidence vote is a necessary precursor to an election.
Scholz has suggested holding a vote of confidence in his government on Jan. 15, with a snap election in March, but the conservative opposition led by Friedrich Merz wants an election in January.
“Olaf Scholz should call a vote of confidence in December so that everything can be clarified before Christmas and the New Year,” Hofreiter told Bild.
Spokespeople for Scholz and the SPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Scholz was scheduled to speak in a nationally televised interview later on Sunday.
Scholz on Friday demanded a calm debate among Germany’s squabbling factions on setting a date for a snap election to pull the country out of its political crisis.
Scholz called on parties to first agree on what legislation could be passed in what remained of the current parliament but denied trying to ram through his own policy agenda by delaying an election.
(Reporting by Tom Sims; Editing by Giles Elgood)
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