Skip next section Scholz and EU discuss Trump in Orban’s backyard11/08/2024November 8, 2024
Scholz and EU discuss Trump in Orban’s backyard
How to handle President Trump 2.0?
That is a big focus of European Union leaders meeting in Budapest today, according to the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz who addressed the traveling press a few minutes ago.
To complicate matters the chair of the meeting is Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a staunch Trump ally.
Scholz emphasized that amid multiple crises, it was important that the EU remained “strong” and “united.”
And the German chancellor has problems at home. Now head of a minority government, he’s under pressure to call snap elections.
Before heading to the summit he stopped to take in the stunning Budapest skyline in the early morning sun. A moment of calm to reflect not just on Europe’s destiny but his own.
https://p.dw.com/p/4mmku
11/08/2024November 8, 2024
Scholz sticks to foreign affairs in Budapest, except perhaps ‘the many changes’ taking place
spoke to reporters in Budapest early Friday but skirted mention of the past two days’ upheaval in Berlin almost entirely.
“Europe and the world faces large challenges,” he began, going on to mention issues like the and the “constant danger of further escalation” in .
“Therefore, it’s necessary and right that the EU sticks together and is strong together,” Scholz said. “That’s what we discussed here, also in regard to the many changes that are taking place everywhere at the same time.”
Like French President Emmanuel Macron on the previous day, Scholz noted Tuesday’s and said Trump’s vicotry had been a key part of discussions in Hungary.
“We discussed the outcome of the US election. That’s right and necessary because the US is Europe’s most important ally,” Scholz said. “We will continue to cooperate well with the future US president, and precisely the question of how to achieve that was a part of our discussion.”
He went on to stress the importance of European defense spending and touted Germany’s expectation of meeting ‘s 2% defense spending target for the first time this year.
Scholz then addressed a series of other European issues under discussion such as plans on how to improve competitiveness and cut red tape, based on a report by guest Mario Draghi, a former Italian prime minister and European Central Bank head.
Except for his mention of the “many changes” happening “at the same time,” if he even meant to include developments in Berlin with that phrase, Scholz did not address his own government’s newfound fragility or take any questions.
https://p.dw.com/p/4mmdM
Skip next section Merz repeats call for earlier confidence vote, says Scholz talks dissonant
11/08/2024November 8, 2024
Merz repeats call for earlier confidence vote, says Scholz talks dissonant
Opposition Christian Democrat leader told reporters on Friday morning that after talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz the previous day in Berlin they had “parted in dissent.”
“The chancellor did not find himself in a position to plausibly explain to me exactly why he really wants to only pose a vote of confidence in two months’ time, and not as soon as next week,” Merz said.
He said he suspected that Scholz hoped to use the interim period to secure CDU/CSU votes for certain measures in parliament that he might then seek to “use for the purposes of the SPD election campaign.”
Should his suspicions be accurate, Merz said, “that behavior is not worthy of the office and it’s not behavior worthy of the situation facing the country.”
He repeated his call for a “fast” move towards an early vote, with a debate on how to proceed scheduled in the Bundestag parliament later on Friday.
He said that Scholz had a “powerful instrument in his hands” as the only person able to call the confidence vote, but he warned against “acting irresponsibly with this instrument.”
He recommended Wednesday of next week, when Scholz was already scheduled to brief parliament, as the ideal appointment for this and explicitly urged him to do so then.
https://p.dw.com/p/4mmdL
Skip next section Merz says Europe must show strength in new Trump term
11/08/2024November 8, 2024
Merz says Europe must show strength in new Trump term
The leader of Germany’s opposition Christian Democratic Union, Friedrich Merz, who hopes to take political advantage of the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-way traffic light coalition, says Europe needed to show strength during Donald Trump‘s second term as US president.
“Donald Trump is not impressed by weakness, only by strength, even opposition,” Merz said. This, he added, would be how Europe could deal with the new government in Washington.
Merz and others want Scholz, from the center-left Social Democrats, to call for an immediate vote of confidence in his now minority government and snap elections. So far, however, Scholz is sticking to his call for a confidence vote in January.
Merz added that Germany must do more for its own security. He said the business model of importing cheaply, exporting expensively, and letting the United States pay for security “is now over.”
“That’s not so dramatic,” he said. “We need to adjust to this, manage it, and take the necessary consequences.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4mmaw
Skip next section Recap: Coalition disintegrates, early elections pending, but when?
11/08/2024November 8, 2024
Recap: Coalition disintegrates, early elections pending, but when?
Germany’s three-party coalition government of the , Greens and neoliberal unraveled during the course of and .
First, Chancellor , whose allies in the FDP subsequently quit the coalition government — with one exception who instead quit the party.
has since indicated that he intends to govern in the short term with a minority SPD-Green government relying on opposition votes for support to handle end-of-year business. He suggested a parliamentary vote of confidence in mid-January, followed by early elections around March.
Opposition parties have, however, called for a confidence vote in parliament much sooner, potentially next week. A vote of no-confidence in the Bundestag sets a two-month timer on calling elections.
After staying in Berlin during the day, formally removing FDP ministers from the government, appointing replacements, and holding talks with opposition leader Friedrich Merz, Scholz made a delayed departure to Budapest for the first major meeting of European leaders since .
There they can discuss the sudden prospect of a change of government in Berlin, perhaps not long after the transition in Washington.
msh/sms (DPA, AP, Reuters,AFP)
https://p.dw.com/p/4mmbQ
The post Germany: Scholz joins EU leaders after coalition collapse appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
