German chancellor’s last remaining coalition friend makes his shift before expected early election

BERLIN — Germany’s economy minister said Friday that he hopes to become his Green event’s candidate for chancellor in the upcoming election.

The announcement by Robert Habeck, who is also vice chancellor, follows the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-event coalition on Wednesday.

The Greens are a tiny event that lost popularity in recent elections and whose back currently hovers around 10%. Germany’s opposition center-correct is leading in the polls.

It is therefore unlikely that Habeck could complete up as the country’s chief. His shift, however, indicates how German politicians are gearing up for an early election after the collapse of the coalition.

“I am applying as a candidate for the Greens, for the people of Germany,” Habeck said in a video posted on X. “If you desire, also as chancellor. But that is not my selection, that is your selection. Only you can decide that.”

Scholz indicated plans for a timeline that could bring an early election by late March — before the vote that is regularly scheduled for September 2025.

However, the opposition is calling for an immediate confidence vote in the parliament to speed that up. Industry leaders are also among those saying that Germany needs a stable government in place soon, as the economy struggles and as Europe prepares for a transformation of leadership in the United States.

Scholz on Friday said that he’s willing to talk about the timing of a vote of confidence and the subsequent recent election. He said consultations were taking place with stakeholders, including groups in the German Bundestag and constitutional bodies, in order “to receive into account what the others ponder and cruel.”

“I depend that we will soon achieve excellent results, at least that would be my aspiration,” he said on the sidelines of a conference in Budapest.

Habeck hopes to be nominated at a event conference in Wiesbaden next week. He doesn’t appear to have solemn contenders after Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced this summer that she didn’t desire to pursue a candidacy for chancellor.

Germany has been governed since 2021 by a coalition led by Scholz’s Social Democrats and which included the smaller pro-business Free Democrats and the environmental Greens.

It has been an uneasy and fractious alliance, and it collapsed Wednesday when Scholz fired Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the Free Democrats in a late-night shift following disagreements over how to revive the shrinking economy.

Scholz said that he hoped to navigator the country with a minority government and call for an confidence vote in parliament in mid-January.