Germany is heading to hold early elections after Olaf Scholz lost the vote of confidence

Stay informed with free updates

Simply sign up German politics myFT Digest – delivered straight to your inbox.

Germany is headed toward early elections after Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a vote of confidence, ending his divided coalition government at a time when the euro zone’s largest economy is struggling.

SchulzParliament’s defeat on Monday paves the way for Parliament to be dissolved before early elections scheduled for February 23.

In pre-election polls, the chancellor and the centre-left Social Democrats are behind both the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Schulz’s expected defeat sends it widely expected Germany To the polls amid a bleak economic outlook, the threat of a trade war with the United States, and political turmoil elsewhere in Europe.

The German central bank warned last week that Europe’s largest economy would grow by just 0.1 percent in 2025.

Immigration and the debate over military support for Ukraine are other contentious issues in the election, in which the AfD and other populist parties hope to make significant gains.

The SPD and its coalition partners, the Green Party, lost their parliamentary majority last month when Schulz fired his finance minister, the head of the liberal FDP Christian Lindner.

The collapse of the so-called traffic light coalition came after months of disagreements over the budget and financing of the country’s huge investment needs and defense and social spending.

“Politics is not a game,” Schulz said in a speech he delivered to representatives before the vote. “The question is whether and how we invest in our country.”

France is also facing political turmoil after Michel Barnier’s government was defeated in a confidence vote this month.

Other European governments are also preparing for the return of Donald Trump as US president, who has threatened to impose global tariffs of up to 20% on imports and called for a mediated deal to end the war in Ukraine.

This is a developing story