The Japan Times - Germany's embattled Scholz open to talks on early election

The embattled chancellor has signalled new polls by March -- half a year earlier than scheduled -- but all opposition parties have urgently demanded they be held as early as January to restore stability.

Two thirds of German voters agree, a survey showed, demanding a new government quickly at a time Germany faces deep economic woes and geopolitical volatility.

Germany's crisis erupted Wednesday, just as Donald Trump won the White House race with as yet unknown consequences for transatlantic trade and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Scholz's political rivals have threatened to block his minority government from passing laws unless he immediately asks for a confidence vote that would allow for a speedy election.

But Scholz threw the ball back into their court by demanding they first help him pass key legislation, in a message aimed chiefly at the CDU/CSU conservative opposition.

Speaking in his trademark unruffled voice on the sidelines of an EU summit in Budapest, Scholz urged a "calm debate" first among parliamentary groups on what laws can be passed this year.

This "could help answer the question of when the right time is" for a confidence vote leading to an early election, he said.

He added that "the election date is not a purely political" decision but must also "allow sufficient time for the organisation of a fair and democratic election".

- 'Clear the way' -

In Berlin, the debate was anything but calm.

The popular Bild daily called for Scholz to "clear the way" for a new government.

"You, Mr Scholz, have tried and failed," Bild editor Marion Horn wrote in a blistering commentary. "Let us voters reassign the mandate of power... as quickly as possible."

Some 65 percent of German voters agreed, while just 33 percent supported Scholz's more relaxed timeline, according to a survey for public broadcaster ARD.

The coalition crisis, centred on discord over economic and fiscal policy, came to a head when Scholz sacked his rebellious finance minister Christian Lindner from the Free Democrats.

It has reduced the government to Scholz's Social Democrats and the Greens.

Despite the domestic turmoil, the government stressed that on the world stage, it's business as usual, including on support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

"The aid to Ukraine, the military support, the financial support, is assured," said government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann.

She also brushed off another attack on Scholz -- from US tech billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk, who in a short German-language message on X had labelled him a "Narr", or a fool.

Asked about Musk's comment, Hoffmann took a playful dig at the tycoon, saying that "on X, you have Narrenfreiheit", which translates to the freedom to act like a fool.

The word refers to German carnival revellers' tendency to party freely and without inhibition, and historically also echoes the notion of the "jester's privilege" to mock the king without fear of punishment.

Asked about the comment, a tight-lipped Scholz simply called it "not very friendly" and said that internet companies are "not organs of state, so I did not even pay it any attention".

- Pats on the back' -

With the end of the Scholz government in sight, German politicians have quickly moved into campaign mode.

The frontrunner in the polls is Friedrich Merz, the head of the conservative CDU party of ex-leader Angela Merkel.

Lindner, the man at the centre of the storm, meanwhile said he wants to be finance minister again in the next government.

And Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck of the Greens declared officially that he will also seek the top job of chancellor.

Scholz also wants to run again, but a Forsa poll said he has only 13 percent support against 57 percent for his long popular defence minister, Boris Pistorius.

Speaking in Budapest, Scholz said that many European leaders sympathised with his plight in the messy world of shifting party alliances.

"Many have patted me on the back," he told the press briefing. "Many have experience of coalition governments.

"They know that it will not get easier but increasingly difficult -- not only in Germany but also in many other countries. Some have known this for decades."

Y.Ishikawa--JT