Germany: Scholz seeks help passing last laws before election

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz faced a question-and-answer session lasting about an hour in the Bundestag on Wednesday, just weeks before he's expected to call a vote of confidence in his minority government to pave the way towards snap elections.

He appealed to opposition politicians to consider supporting last pieces of legislation his outgoing government still hopes to pass prior to the vote. 

"The time of the election campaign is not a time of stagnation," Scholz appealed to the chamber. "We can still get things done. I am asking you to contribute." 

What does Scholz still hope to achieve before the vote? 

Scholz explicitly mentioned three pieces of legislation that he said would be in everyone's interest to agree on, whatever happens in the vote expected late in February. 

All of them, he said, would contribute to "easing the burden on citizens" financially. 

Scholz first cited moving tax brackets to avoid what's sometimes known as "bracket creep," or "cold progression" in German — when inflation and resultant pay increases lead to people entering a higher tax bracket despite little or no discernible changes to their living standards.

He said that child welfare payments also needed adjusting. 

Scholz also called for lawmakers to approve plans for continuing the discounted €58 (roughly $61) flat-fare monthly nationwide rail pass known as the "Deutschlandticket." 

The chancellor greeted leading CDU politicians Friedrich Merz, the candidate for chancellor, and Armin Laschet, the 2021 candidate, in the chamber ahead of the session. But the largest opposition party did not directly respond to or challenge his calls for support for passing legislation.

Briefing Bundestag on visit to Kyiv this week

Scholz also spoke on Ukraine, following his trip to Kyiv on Monday and talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 

Scholz said he'd told Zelenskyy that Ukraine could be assured of continued German support, but also said his goal was "to develop concepts with Ukraine on how the war could one day end after all." 

He said it was crucial that such discussions involved the government in Kyiv and that decisions were not made "over Ukraine's head." 

Scholz also tried to defend the more cautious parts of his approach to the conflict, like not providing longer-range Taurus missiles, saying that he would "continue to do everything so that it doesn't come to a further escalation," particularly a conflict between Russia and NATO.

Scholz said that the Taurus was a "very, very far-reaching weapon" with high precision and potential for damage.

The chancellor said Zelenskyy had also asked him to do more to ensure that Ukrainians who fled to Germany after Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion find work. 

Zelenskyy wanted to set up a Ukrainian authority for countries like Germany and Poland that would support people to this end, Scholz told the chamber.

"Many have been here for a long time now and really should be getting started," he said.

'I also want to be my own successor' 

Wednesday's session was the first monthly Q&A with the chancellor, a concept loosely modeled on Prime Ministers' Questions in the UK and introduced around a decade ago, since Scholz confirmed he would be triggering early elections in February and the SPD confirmed Scholz would again be their lead candidate. 

This followed him firing Free Democrat (FDP) Finance Minister Christian Lindner, leading to the withdrawal of FDP support for his formerly three-party coalition, also including his Social Democrats and the Greens. 

Speaking of his ambitions in the aftermath of the vote, Scholz repeated what appears a bold goal for the SPD as they languish in third place in most nationwide polls. 

"I also want to be my own successor," Scholz said, as the party hopes for a late rebound in support akin to the one it enjoyed in 2021's national election campaign.

Polls currently put the CDU/CSU on more than 30% support, more than double the roughly 15% enjoyed by the SPD, with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) on around 19%.

The SPD has never finished outside the top two in a post-war German election.

msh/ab (AFP, dpa, epd)

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