BERLIN Nov. 15 (DPA/EP) –
The Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, has stated that “the Government continues working” despite the already announced electoral advance and has appealed for consensus with opposition parties to approve a series of laws before Parliament is dissolved in December.
The chancellor has advocated reducing taxes on salaries from January and increasing child benefits, as well as extending subsidies for public transport subscriptions. He also wants to strengthen the Constitutional Court, although these changes had already been negotiated with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
“They are manageable projects and possible to reach consensus, but they make a difference,” Scholz said on his social networks, from where he pointed out that the Bundestag, the Lower House of Parliament, “can also work” in this upcoming period. He has admitted that it will be necessary to agree on each law, but believes that “it should not be impossible.”
The political crisis has precipitated this month in Germany, after, after weeks of disputes within the ruling coalition, Scholz announced on November 6 the dismissal of the Minister of Finance, Christian Lindner, and caused by extension the break with the liberals.
Initially, he proposed submitting to a vote of confidence in the Bundestag in January, but after negotiations with the CDU he agreed to advance this vote to December. The deadlines now establish that Germans will go to vote on February 23, 2025.
Regarding this dismissal, Scholz has acknowledged that he should have anticipated and dismissed Lindner as Finance Minister beforehand. “Maybe I should have realized sooner that things could no longer continue like this. Maybe I should have made the decision to fire the minister sooner,” he said.
In statements to the newspaper ‘Suddeutsche Zeitung’, Chancellor Scholz stressed that “it is no secret” that before Lindner’s departure from the Government he had already considered the possibility of dispensing with his services “despite the many hours” that both have shared.
“It was simply not possible to reach an agreement on the federal budget for 2025,” stressed Scholz, who has admitted errors and stressed that denying it “would be surprising.” “I continue to believe that it is the right thing to do, even though it has damaged the reputation of the government and mine as chancellor,” he concluded.