German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck called on the centrist parties to show their willingness to cooperate after the early elections to the Bundestag, which will take place on February 23. Otherwise, according to him, they risk helping their extremist rivals. TASR informs about it according to the DPA agency.
Photo: TASR/AP, Monika Skolimowska
German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck.
Habeck’s comments came a day after Austrian Chancellor and ÖVP People’s Party leader Karl Nehammer announced his intention to step down following the breakdown of coalition talks with the Social Democrats (SPÖ). According to the DPA, this paved the way for a possible government coalition between the ÖVP and the Free Party of Austria (FPÖ), described as far-right.
“Austria is an example of how it cannot turn out,” Habeck, the Green Party’s candidate for chancellor, responded to the events in the neighboring country. According to him, “sparks will fly” in the election campaign in Germany, but he emphasized that the parties must remain calm.
“If centrist parties are unable to form alliances and reject compromise as the work of the devil, it helps the radicals. If we are not prepared to form democratic alliances, we risk instability and inability to act. Germany cannot afford that,” the vice chancellor noted.
The Green Party, which formed a three-way government coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Liberals (FDP) in 2021, has the support of around 13 percent of voters in the latest public opinion polls.
The polls attribute the first place to the conservative CDU/CSU bloc, followed by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the SPD of current Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
According to DPA, the Greens are mentioned as a possible coalition partner of the CDU/CSU. However, CSU leader Markus Söder has repeatedly spoken out against such a coalition.
Germany will hold early elections to the Bundestag on February 23. They were triggered by the collapse of Scholz’s government tripartite coalition in November of last year after months of tension over the country’s budget policy and economic direction.
Source: spravy.pravda.sk
