One can say that today the pre-election campaign officially started in Germanyeven if a decision on the vote of confidence is taken a month later, on December 16 (ss: Chancellor Soltz will request it, as he said, on December 11 so that the relevant vote can be completed on the 16th). After all, the procedure will be formal to dissolve the parliament. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has also agreed to this, with early elections set for February 23.

Olaf Solz also said this on Wednesday from the platform of the packed Plenary of the parliament, where he appeared for the planned government statements, in a climate of polarization and high tones in the opposition benches.

The “separation” was necessary, he said about the dissolution of the joint government, stressing that until the last moment he tried to reach compromises. The ousting of the Liberal Party. Economist Christian Lindner, an advocate of rigid fiscal discipline, “was necessary and inevitable,” he said. From then on, without focusing on the past and what went wrong, he chose to focus on the future, the challenges and the need for wider parliamentary convergences and compromises because the “difficult times” demand it.

The chancellor stressed the need to work with the opposition in the German parliament until the early elections on a number of critical pieces of legislation, such as for example the bill to strengthen the powers of the Federal Constitutional Court or to increase the child benefit or guarantee stable pensions in future. “For the good of the country” as he said, referring mainly to K.O. of the two parties of the Christian Union.

Change of the Soltz “doctrine” for Ukraine

However, what Olaf Solz mentioned about the continuation of aid to Ukraine caused a sensation, after the severe criticism that has been leveled at him mainly by the far-right Alternative for Germany or the Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance, whose head watched calmly and alone from the edge of her parliament the whole process.

Olaf Solz reiterated that Ukraine can rely on German aid, but this should not jeopardize social policy in Germany or the financing of necessary infrastructure investments. “I believe that supporting Ukraine cannot and should not lead to cuts in pensions, care, health,” he said. Dilemmas like “either one or the other” lead nowhere, he emphasized, looking at Christian Lindner but also at the seats of his comrades in the Social Democratic Party. At the same time, he also sent a message to Kiev, that he will not allow Russian territory to be harmed. with the German weapons sent as aid.

Mertz as “next chancellor”

The leader of the Christian Democrats, Friedrich Mertz, appeared with confidence and air of a regulator of developments for the next period, who accused Olaf Solz of tactics and described the three-party government as “failed”. Her breakup is a “relief,” she said. The chancellor, of course, “did everything to delay the appeal to early elections”. But he praised the head of K.O. of the Social Democrats Rolf Mützenich for the cooperation in reaching a compromise on the date of the elections.

At the same time, he expressed his support for the changes planned by the Social Democrats to strengthen the role of the Constitutional Court and focused on the need for reforms to increase the competitiveness of the German economy, at a time of increasing protectionism with an eye on the US after the re-election of Trump.

AfD targets more than 100 MPs

The co-president of the far-right Alternative for Germany, Alice Weidel, took the floor of the parliament with fierce shots against Solz, his coalition government and Friedrich Merz. The three-party coalition, he said, had done “unprecedented” harm to Germany like no previous government, damaging “prosperity” and contributing to the country’s “de-industrialization”. As for the main contender for the chancellorship, Friedrich Merz, he accused him of arbitrariness, vanity and tactics. “You are only concerned about yourself, your power, your tactics and your vanity. With you as ‘Soltz’s replacement’, Germany will see no progress,” he said.

Today, however, Baidel’s party received another serious parliamentary blow. More than 100 MPs from various parties submitted a proposal to the speaker of the German parliament, Berbel Bas, in favor of the AfD’s ban, in order to start the relevant process in the parliament “as quickly as possible”.

The relevant request should then be forwarded to the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, which is the only one competent for such a decision.

The far-right AfD is second in the polls with 19.5%, while Alice Weidel is considered second most suitable for the chancellor after Friedrich Merz. They are followed by Olaf Solz and Robert Hambeck, with the candidacy of Olaf Solz not yet certain, given his extremely low popularity ratings.