Germany is set to hold a snap election on February 23 after an agreement was reached among parties in the country’s fractured parliament on Tuesday, according to reports from public broadcaster ARD.
Last week, Germany’s governing coalition collapsed after disagreements over the country’s weak economy led Chancellor Olaf Scholz to sack his finance minister, leaving him in a minority government with the Green Party.
The exact date for an election needs to be confirmed by the president, but only following a vote of confidence that Scholz must call.
The confidence vote will be held on December 16 following an agreement from all parliamentary parties, according to ARD.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier needs to rubber-stamp the date of the election, but reports suggest this is a formality. Steinmeier said at an unrelated event in Berlin on Tuesday that “our country needs a government that is capable of taking action.”
“That is why we must not lose any time now. We must find answers to the question of how we can make our state better able to act,” Steinmeier added.
The greater clarity on a date for elections, originally due to be held in September 2025, comes just a week after Scholz’s government coalition fell apart as he fired his finance minister, Christian Lindner, following a major disagreement on Germany’s economic future.
Scholz initially announced that he planned to hold a confidence vote on January 15, but he came under immediate pressure from the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) opposition party to hold them earlier.
Friedrich Merz, leader of the CDU, said last week, “there is absolutely no reason to wait until January” to call the confidence vote.
Scholz’s position on the date seemed to shift over the weekend. On Friday, he tweeted that he would “like to facilitate new elections as soon as possible.” Then, on Sunday evening, he told German TV that he would be willing to call the confidence vote before Christmas.
Scholz is currently leading a minority government with the Greens. His government has grown increasingly unpopular in Germany, with Scholz also one of the least popular chancellors ever, according to a September opinion poll.