Scholz Vows Investment Boom as Germany Heads for an Election

  • Chancellor Scholz started process to vote on new government
  • Germany’s three-party ruling coalition imploded last month
Olaf Scholz during a vote of confidence at the Bundestag in Berlin, on Dec. 16.Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for massive new investment into infrastructure and defense, hitting on key campaign themes ahead of a vote in parliament on Monday that will pave the way for a snap federal election in just over two months.

The Social Democrat, who’s run Europe’s biggest economy since late 2021, is using a quirk in the constitution to force a national ballot on Feb. 23, seven months earlier than the scheduled end of his term. It’s only the sixth time since World War II the confidence-vote mechanism has been invoked.