(ANSA-AFP) - BERLIN, DEC 16 - Germany's embattled centre-left
Chancellor Olaf Scholz traded angry blows with his top rival
ahead of a parliament vote Monday that was expected to trigger
the process towards February 23 elections. Scholz, 66, whose
three-party coalition collapsed last month, has called a
confidence vote which he is expected to lose, clearing the way
for the dissolution of the Bundestag and a return to the ballot
box. Friedrich Merz, 69, the top candidate of the conservative
CDU-CSU opposition alliance of ex-chancellor Angela Merkel, is
well ahead in opinion polls to became the next leader of
Europe's top economy. In parliament, Scholz outlined plans for
massive spending on security, business and social welfare, but
Merz demanded to know why he had not taken those steps in the
past, asking: "Were you on another planet?" Scholz argued that
his government had made great progress over the past three
years, including boosting spending on the German armed forces,
which he said previous CDU-led governments had left "in a
deplorable state". "It is high time to invest powerfully and
decisively in Germany," Scholz said, warning about Russia's war
in Ukraine that "a highly armed nuclear power is waging war in
Europe just two hours' flight from here". But Merz fired back at
Scholz that he had left the country in "one of the biggest
economic crises of the postwar era". "You had your chance, but
you did not use it ... You, Mr. Scholz, do not deserve
confidence", charged Merz. If Scholz loses the vote, President
Frank-Walter Steinmeier can then move to dissolve the
legislature and formally declare the agreed February 23 election
date. (ANSA-AFP).
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
