Lindner rejects Merz's call for a vote of confidence by Scholz
The FDP leader said that CDU leader Friedrich Merz 's call for a vote of confidence was "part of the usual opposition gymnastics".
Merz had called on the Chancellor on Wednesday to present the changes to migration policy agreed between the federal and state governments at the beginning of November to the Bundestag as a legislative package in January and to link this to the vote of confidence. Scholz should thus ensure that he still has the support of his coalition.
Scholz had already rejected this demand on Wednesday. In an interview with ARD television, he described it as "a somewhat misguided gesture by the CDU chairman". "The Federal Government has a stable majority and passes its laws," said the Chancellor.
The Basic Law provides for the possibility for the Federal Chancellor to ask the Bundestag to give him a vote of confidence. In this way, the Chancellor can ensure that his policies are still supported by the majority of the Bundestag.
The coalition with the traffic light coalition has weeks of tough negotiations on the 2024 budget behind it, which ended in a compromise on Wednesday. As a result of the budget ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court, a financial gap of 17 billion euros had to be closed. This is now to be achieved through a bundle of measures ranging from savings and tax increases to subsidy cuts.
Within the FDP, there is also a membership survey on whether to remain in the coalition with the SPD and the Greens. However, Linder was relaxed about this. "That doesn't stress me out, because it's an opportunity to make it clear that the FDP is helping to shape the direction of the government," he told RND. Without the FDP, the budget compromise would have resulted in tax increases and more debt, emphasized the FDP leader.
The initiative for the member survey is based on a collection of signatures from the Kassel FDP, which wants the Liberals to withdraw from the coalition. However, the result is not binding for the party leadership.
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Source: www.stern.de
