Germany’s Scholz Under Rising Pressure to Hold January Election
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(Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is coming under mounting pressure to agree to an early election in January, with a new poll showing two-thirds of voters want a national ballot as soon as possible and business groups calling for an end to political turmoil.
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The survey for public broadcaster ARD gives fresh ammunition to center-right opposition leader Friedrich Merz, who accused Scholz of seeking to delay the election until March purely for party political advantage.
Merz, who heads the poll-leading CDU/CSU alliance, said the Social Democrat chancellor’s tactics are “irresponsible” given that Europe’s biggest economy urgently needs additional measures to restore meaningful growth. The opposition is ready to discuss cooperation in parliament in coming weeks but only if Scholz submits as soon as possible to a confidence vote, Merz said Friday in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio.
“We believe that German voters have the right to a stable parliament and, above all, to a stable government,” he said.
Speaking to reporters in Budapest where he’s attending the informal European Union summit, Scholz didn’t address the crisis paralyzing domestic politics back in Berlin.
The chancellor ended his three-party ruling coalition with the Greens and fiscally conservative Free Democrats late Wednesday when he sacked FDP Finance Minister Christian Lindner, forfeiting the alliance’s majority in the lower house of parliament.
Bunds sold off after Scholz removed Lindner, who is widely regarded as a figurehead for fiscal conservatism, pushing the 10-year yield to 2.50% for the first time since July. Those losses eased Friday after China announced measures to support its economy.
Another closely-watched gauge of angst about bond supply rose, with the 10-year yield climbing above the equivalent swap rate for the first time on record. The move accelerated a long-standing trend that has been fueled by higher net supply as the European Central Bank reduces its bond holdings and Germany’s economy stagnates.
“I think you’ll get some incremental changes,” Goldman Sachs Chief European Economist Jari Stehn said in a Bloomberg TV interview with Anna Edwards on Friday. “I certainly think it’s an opportunity after the policy gridlock that we’ve seen.”
Scholz said he wants the next election — which is scheduled for the end of September — to be held in March to give time to secure parliamentary approval for several planned bills.