(de-news.net) – Chancellor Olaf Scholz has formally submitted a request for a confidence vote to the Bundestag, as confirmed by a government spokesperson. Scholz filed this request with Bundestag President Bärbel Bas and announced on social media that the move aims to pave the way for early elections.

Following the submission of the formal request, Chancellor Scholz urged the opposition to support several urgent initiatives. He emphasized the necessity of making these decisions before the year’s end to “secure jobs” and “relieve citizens.” Scholz highlighted the importance of increasing child benefits and allowances to signal that families will not be left to cope with rising prices alone. Additionally, he stressed the need to address fiscal drag, secure the Germany ticket, and stabilize grid fees. Scholz called for a united front from the democratic center on these critical issues, noting that such a coalition would send a strong message. However, the Union has already indicated opposition to many of these points, and the FDP is reportedly also reluctant to cooperate on several issues.

The Bundestag is scheduled to vote on the confidence motion on Monday. The Green Party leadership has suggested that its members abstain, allowing the confidence vote to fail without directly opposing their own government. If all SPD and Green MPs vote in favor, there is concern that other MPs might cause disruption by voting against their convictions in support of Scholz.

Should Scholz fail to secure a majority, President Steinmeier has 21 days to dissolve the Bundestag and set a date for new elections, tentatively agreed upon as February 23. Since the collapse of the traffic light coalition, Scholz has been leading a minority government of SPD and Greens, which no longer holds a majority in the Bundestag.