Olaf Scholz under pressure to push for German confidence vote

Germany in chaos after alliance collapse

Scholz faces pressure to call early election

Prominent Green Party member calls for early confidence vote

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz faced growing pressure on Sunday to hold a confidence vote in parliament that would pave the way for snap elections after the collapse of his ruling coalition.

Two leading members of the Green party, which shares power in the minority government with Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), told Bild the confidence vote should be held in December, ahead of the prime minister’s plan in January.

Europe’s largest economy was thrown into disarray last week as Scholz’s tripartite coalition collapsed and disagreements emerged over how much the government should spend to encourage growth and support Ukraine.

Greens Anton Hovreit and Eileen Mihalik are by far the most prominent voices supporting early voting among the two parties still in power. A vote of confidence is a necessary prerequisite for elections.

Scholz has recommended a confidence vote in his government on January 15 and early elections in March, but the conservative opposition led by Friedrich Merz wants to hold elections in January.

“Olav Scholz should have a vote of confidence in December so that everything can be clarified before Christmas and New Year,” Hofreit told Bild.

Spokesmen for Scholz and the Social Democrats did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Scholz is scheduled to speak in a nationally televised interview later Sunday.

Scholz on Friday called for a calm debate between Germany’s squabbling factions to set a date for early elections to lift the country out of its political crisis.

Scholz called on the parties to first agree on what legislation can be passed in the remaining seats of this parliament, but denied trying to force their own policy agenda by delaying the election.

(Reporting by Tom Sims; Editing by Giles Elgood)