German opposition leader calls for early elections amid budget chaos

BERLIN

A leading German opposition figure on Monday called for early elections parallel to European polls in June next year amid a worsening government budget crisis.

The government should pose the question of trust “not in parliament, but in front of the German people,” Markus Soeder, the leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU) and Bavaria’s prime minister, told reporters in Berlin.

Soeder stressed that he did not believe that the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz is still able to solve the country's problems.

Following the early election, a new edition of the grand coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) is a conceivable government option, said Soeder.

He once again rejected a Christian Democratic-led government coalition with the Greens, saying such a coalition would be “a good model for good times, but simply not for difficult times.”

He also does not believe "that the FDP (Free Democratic Party) is still in a position to be a stable government partner in the long term."

Earlier in the day, Germany's ruling coalition of the SPD, Greens and FDP agreed on a supplementary budget that would temporarily lift a self-imposed cap on borrowing limits after a constitutional court ruling tore up the government's spending plans.

The budget would see Germany suspend its constitutionally enshrined debt brake for a fourth year in a row as the center-leftist government coalition fights its way out of a crisis that has sparked warnings about growth and an industry exodus.