New Bundestag elections: First election campaign duel: Merz attacked – Scholz defended

A week after the traffic lights went out, opposition leader Friedrich Merz opened the election campaign in the Bundestag with sharp personal attacks against Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). In his response to his government statement, the CDU leader and Union candidate for chancellor denied Scholz any government and leadership skills. “You are dividing the country, Mr. Chancellor. You are the one who is responsible for these controversies and for this division in Germany. You simply cannot govern a country like that.”

In a government statement, Scholz had previously defended the dismissal of his Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) and the associated exit from the traffic light coalition as “inevitable”. At the same time, he warned of a division in the country and called for continued compromises in politics. “I am convinced. The path of compromise remains the only right path.”

The fired ex-Finance Minister Lindner accused Scholz of having provoked the coalition break by demanding that the debt brake be suspended. “That was a demand for political submission or a provoked break in the coalition,” he said. “Sometimes a layoff is also a release.”

End of traffic light divorce – start of the election campaign

The debate brings to an end the dirty divorce of the traffic light coalition after almost three years of marriage of convenience. After a bitter dispute over economic and financial policy, Scholz fired his finance minister a week ago and brought about the end of the three-way alliance.

He now leads a minority government made up of the SPD and the Greens and wants to ask the Bundestag for a vote of confidence on December 16th. If, as expected, he does not receive a majority, the new election will take place on February 23rd. Until then, there are 102 days left for the election campaign. The government statement and the subsequent two-hour debate was basically the start and gave a foretaste of how tough this election campaign could be.

Merz senses a dirty election campaign

Merz accused the SPD of wanting to conduct a dirty federal election campaign against him. “AI-generated fake videos about me have been circulating online since yesterday. So far, so bad,” he said to Scholz. “But the fact that they are posted and forwarded by Social Democratic MPs gives a foretaste of the type of election campaign that you are obviously prepared to conduct here in Germany.” Merz was apparently reacting to the fact that the Schleswig-Holstein SPD member of the Bundestag Bengt Bergt had shared a video on his Instagram account.

SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich later said: If a member of his group actually used questionable AI technology, “then I will ensure that this or that member apologizes to you, Mr. Merz.”

Merz described Scholz’s government statement as a “witching hour”. “What you have presented here, Mr. Chancellor, is out of this world.” The Chancellor did not understand what was going on in this country.

No “fist on the table” politics

The Chancellor’s speech, on the other hand, was comparatively defensive. Public strife should never again overshadow the work of the government, he said. “Of course it doesn’t work with your fist on the table,” he said, defending his style of government. He called on all Democrats to counteract divisions in society. This is the central question in the upcoming new elections in February. “I want to avoid a situation where everyone fights for distribution against everyone,” said the SPD politician.

He spoke out in favor of more investment in security. But this should never come at the expense of pensions, health or care. Security and cohesion – one cannot be had without the other. “This ‘either or’ is wrong and is misleading our country.” The “either or” is an economic stimulus program for populists and extremists. “This is damaging and tearing Germany apart.”

Scholz names a list of possible resolutions

The Union called on Scholz to pass important laws together before the Bundestag is dissolved. “Let us act together where we agree. It would be good for our country,” he said.

Specifically, Scholz mentioned relief from the so-called cold progression in income tax, which should apply on January 1, 2025. It is also necessary to adopt as much of the planned government initiative for more growth as quickly as possible. A child benefit increase should also come at the beginning of 2025. The Chancellor also mentioned changes to the Basic Law in order to strengthen the Federal Constitutional Law against possible political influence.

Weidel attacks Scholz and Merz

AfD leader Alice Weidel made serious accusations against the Chancellor. “What your government has done to this country and its citizens is unprecedented,” she said. The traffic lights have destroyed prosperity and damaged the country like no government before. Weidel accused CDU chairman Merz of hypocrisy. He doesn’t want a policy change for Germany. “It’s all about yourself, your power, party tactics and, above all, your vanity. With you as a ‘substitute Scholz’, Germany won’t make any progress.”

Two Prime Ministers speak in debate

Two Prime Ministers also spoke in the debate – Markus Söder (CSU/Bavaria) and Stephan Weil (SPD/Lower Saxony). In addition to the Chancellor, Söder also sharply attacked Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens). This is the face of the crisis in Germany. “I think it’s brave that the Greens act as if they had nothing to do with the whole disaster. When all is said and done, a completely failed economic policy is responsible for Germany’s entire budget problems.”

Weil warned against falling into political stalemate until the federal election next year. “The situation in our country is too fragile for that,” said the SPD politician.

Starting point for the election campaign: Union clearly ahead

In the next 100 days until the election date it looks like a clear matter for the Union. It has been consistently reaching 30 percent or more in the polls for a year. The SPD, as the strongest government party, is currently in third place with 16 to 18 percentage points – even behind the AfD. But be careful: things were no different before the 2021 election. Two and a half months before the election date, Scholz and the SPD were up to 16 percentage points behind the Union. The SPD finally won against the Union on September 26th with 25.7 to 24.1 percent. Scholz became traffic light chancellor.

With the story of the triumph of 2021, the SPD is now encouraging itself – and hoping for mistakes from Merz. And the others? As things stand, the Greens can expect 11 to 12 percent. The FDP is scratching the 5 percent hurdle in the surveys, the Left is clearly below it. The Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) could make it into the Bundestag with current ratings of 5 to 9 percent and the AfD is number 2 with 15 to 19.5 percent.

For the first time, four candidates for chancellor

For the first time there will be four candidates for chancellor in an election campaign. Only in the case of incumbent Chancellor Scholz is it not yet clear when he will officially be able to call himself a candidate for chancellor. The party leadership assures that he will undoubtedly do so. However, the board decided not to formally nominate him at its first meeting after the traffic lights went out on Monday – thereby allowing the debate within the party to continue as to whether he was the right candidate.

Pistorius as a replacement candidate for Scholz?

There is a promising alternative: Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has been the undisputed number one in the charts of the most popular politicians for months. Some people in the party think that he is the only chance to catch up with the Union. So far, only a few people from the third and fourth row have dared to say that.

But even the very loyal faction leader Mützenich notices the unrest – and speaks about it. “Yes, there is grumbling. Of course there are also these voices,” Mützenich said on Tuesday evening on ZDF’s “heute journal” about the doubts about Scholz. In the end, the party knows that it can only win together, he added. When asked whether this would happen with Olaf Scholz, Mützenich replied: “I am firmly convinced of that.”