There are absolutely no reasons to pose a question of confidence in January, says Friedrich Merz, party leader of the conservative opposition party CDU, and demands an election no later than the beginning of next week, according to Der Spiegel.
Scholz's announcement of a confidence vote in January came shortly after the news that Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) had been fired – in the middle of work on next year's state budget. Lindner's dismissal led the three remaining FDP ministers in Scholz's so-called traffic light coalition (after the parties' colors) to resign in protest, and the collapse of the government was a fact.
However, Transport Minister Volker Wissing withdrew his resignation on Thursday morning – and instead left his party.
Olaf Scholz's government has consisted of the Social Democratic Party SPD, the liberal FDP, and the Green party. SPD now wants to continue to govern in a minority with the Greens – but the opposition claims that the government no longer has legitimacy.
The traffic light coalition is history since last night, says CDU's Merz according to Der Spiegel.
A remaining traffic light coalition cannot claim to continue to govern, says Alexander Dobrindt, CDU's Bavarian sister party CSU's group leader in the federal parliament.
According to German government sources, Scholz appoints party colleague Jörg Kukies as new finance minister. Kukies is currently state secretary at Scholz's office and is close to the federal chancellor, according to German media.
