The Chancellor Scholz is facing a vote of confidence on December 16. If his government falls, there will be new elections on February 23 next year, according to reports from, among others, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Bild.
The announcement comes after Rolf Mützenich, the Social Democratic Party's (SPD) group leader in the Bundestag, together with the conservative CDU's party leader Friedrich Merz and the Greens' Britta Hasselmann and Katharina Dröge, met with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the evening.
After the more than 40-minute-long conversation, Steinmeier announced that February 23, 2025, is a "realistic" date for the Germans to go to the polls.
The Opposition Protests
The date for the December vote was established during an agreement between the governing parties SPD and the Greens, as well as the Christian Democratic CDU and its Bavarian sister party CSU, on the timetable.
The President "welcomes the fact that the parliamentary group has agreed on a path towards a vote of confidence", Steinmeier's office writes in a statement.
Scholz from SPD leads a minority government after last week's German government crisis, which followed the announcement that Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) had been dismissed.
Last Wednesday, Scholz announced a vote of confidence on January 15, which prompted the opposition to protest and demand a significantly faster timeline.
Budget Delayed
The latest opinion polls show that CDU/CSU has a steady lead of 32 percent. SPD has around 15 percent support, with the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AFD) reaching around 20 percent in the polls.
Both the Social Democrats and CDU have previously stated that cooperation with AFD is unthinkable.
The rapid developments in the chaotic political situation in Germany mean that the current government will not be able to present a budget for next year.
It is not realistic that a new federal budget for 2025 will be decided before the general election, says Social Democrat Jörg Kukies, who is the new Finance Minister after the dismissed Lindner.
