Chaos
1st July 2005, 12:03 AM
A while ago, the German Chancellor, Gerhardt Schröder, decided that a motion of no-confidence was to be filed in the parliament, the Bundesrat - against himself, no less.
Now, this isn´t exactly the first time this is done, since the motion of no-confidence has, in the past, confirmed the break-up of more than one coalition.
What´s new this time is that Chancellor Schröder has had the motion filed with the expressed intent of having it fail! You´ve read this right, folks - he wants to be voted out of office.
For those of you not familiar with the procedure, the motion of no-confidence can be filed when an administration has consistently failed to get a majority of votes in parliament - usually because the minor partner of the coaltion has defected. This time, however, it´s because the main opposition party, the Christian Democrats, have gained a majority of votes in the other chamber of parliament, the Bundesrat, and are blocking just about anything that the Bundestag passes - with the obvious intention, as it has always been in situations like this, of preventing the administration from doing anything for which it might be favorably remembered when the next election comes.
Anyway, if the motion passes, the Chancellor must ask the President to dissolve parliament and call for new elections, probably at some time during this autumn.
My guess is that Schröder mostly got frustrated with the economical situation Germany is in, with the resistance of trade unions and other lobby groups against what pitiful reforms he actually had the guts to propose, and with the opposition´s blockade tactics in the Bundesrat. However, instead of taking it like a man and resigning, he is abusing the motion of no-confidence. He is even pressuring the Social Democrats in parliament to abstain from the motion instead of supporting the Chancellor, to avoid the risking of it failing (the Social Democrats and the Green, which form the current administration, have 304 out of 605 seats right now). One party spokesperson even said in an interview (attention - danger of snorting coffee through nose!) that if every Social Democrat MP was told to abstain instead of to vote against the Chancellor, it wouldn´t look like the Chancellor was deliberately trying to make the motion succeed.
The motion is to be voted on today, and to be frank, I´m curios to see what official reason Schröder pulls out of the hat for the motion.
Also, I half-expect the opposition to support Schröder in order to force him to either resign or stick with his job until the regular elections in September ´06.
Now, this isn´t exactly the first time this is done, since the motion of no-confidence has, in the past, confirmed the break-up of more than one coalition.
What´s new this time is that Chancellor Schröder has had the motion filed with the expressed intent of having it fail! You´ve read this right, folks - he wants to be voted out of office.
For those of you not familiar with the procedure, the motion of no-confidence can be filed when an administration has consistently failed to get a majority of votes in parliament - usually because the minor partner of the coaltion has defected. This time, however, it´s because the main opposition party, the Christian Democrats, have gained a majority of votes in the other chamber of parliament, the Bundesrat, and are blocking just about anything that the Bundestag passes - with the obvious intention, as it has always been in situations like this, of preventing the administration from doing anything for which it might be favorably remembered when the next election comes.
Anyway, if the motion passes, the Chancellor must ask the President to dissolve parliament and call for new elections, probably at some time during this autumn.
My guess is that Schröder mostly got frustrated with the economical situation Germany is in, with the resistance of trade unions and other lobby groups against what pitiful reforms he actually had the guts to propose, and with the opposition´s blockade tactics in the Bundesrat. However, instead of taking it like a man and resigning, he is abusing the motion of no-confidence. He is even pressuring the Social Democrats in parliament to abstain from the motion instead of supporting the Chancellor, to avoid the risking of it failing (the Social Democrats and the Green, which form the current administration, have 304 out of 605 seats right now). One party spokesperson even said in an interview (attention - danger of snorting coffee through nose!) that if every Social Democrat MP was told to abstain instead of to vote against the Chancellor, it wouldn´t look like the Chancellor was deliberately trying to make the motion succeed.
The motion is to be voted on today, and to be frank, I´m curios to see what official reason Schröder pulls out of the hat for the motion.
Also, I half-expect the opposition to support Schröder in order to force him to either resign or stick with his job until the regular elections in September ´06.