The Bavarian Prime Minister and CSU leader Markus Söder has spoken out in favor of new elections. The traffic light government should ask the question of trust “not in parliament, but in front of the German people,” the Bavarian Prime Minister demanded in front of journalists in Berlin. He does not believe that the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is still able to solve the country’s problems. According to Söder, a new election could take place on June 9th next year – parallel to the European elections.
After a new election, a grand coalition with the SPD is a conceivable government option, said Söder. As in the Bavarian election campaign, Söder rejected a government with the Greens in the federal government. Black-green is “a good model for good times, but simply not for difficult times.” He also doesn’t believe “that the FDP is still in a position to be a stable government partner in the long term.” You notice how the inner substance of the traffic light is disappearing and the centrifugal forces are getting bigger and bigger.
The reason for Söder’s initiative is the budget crisis following the Federal Constitutional Court’s ruling. This has made the cooperation between the traffic light parties, which is already characterized by many debates, even more difficult. Since then, there has been discussion in the traffic lights, but also in the opposition, about what budget policy could look like after the ruling. Another topic is the debt brake anchored in the Basic Law.
Söder strictly rejects their abolition or reform. The opposition is always ready to help Germany. “But the help does not lie in abolishing the debt brake or weakening the debt brake,” he said. “We reject that. The leaders of the CDU and CSU agree on that. It would be the wrong way to do it now,” he said, also against the background of the considerations of some CDU prime ministers. Most recently, Reiner Haseloff from Saxony-Anhalt and Michael Kretschmer from Saxony brought up a reform of the debt brake.
Söder called on Chancellor Scholz to “clear ship” in his government statement this Tuesday and to make it clear where the journey is headed. If the federal government declares an emergency for the 2023 budget, the Union will not sue, although it still considers the step to be wrong. Söder left it open what this would look like with a view to next year’s budget.