International

The German conservative leader urges Chancellor Scholz to call a vote of confidence after the breakup of the government coalition

The leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Friedrich Merz, urged German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday to submit to a vote of confidence next week at the latest, and not on January 15, as he announced yesterday, after the breakup of the coalition government.

In an appearance before the press, Merz said that “there is no reason to wait until January next year to ask for a vote of confidence,” and stressed that the government coalition, formed by social democrats, greens and liberals, “no longer has a majority” in the lower house.

“Therefore, we have to demand that the chancellor, by unanimous decision of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group – the Bavarian Christian Social Union – immediately convene a vote of confidence, no later than the beginning of next week,” he said.

Call for elections

The conservative politician said that he will ask Scholz at the meeting they will hold this noon “to clear the way” for elections and present his arguments in a subsequent meeting with the country’s president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Merz alluded to a whole series of international commitments, conferences and decisions in the European Union that “now require a German government to be able to act.”

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“We simply cannot afford now to have a government without a majority in Germany for several months and then carry out an electoral campaign for several more months and then possibly several weeks of coalition negotiations. This now has to go fast,” he added.

He said that if Scholz submits to the vote of confidence now, it would be possible to hold general elections in the second half of January and assured that there is enough time for the parties to carry out all the necessary preparations.

“There is no reason at all to wait until the spring of next year,” he insisted.

Scholz’s chief advisor will take over the Finance portfolio

Jörg Kukies, an important advisor to the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and currently Secretary of State in the Chancellery, will assume the portfolio of Minister of Finance of the Government of a minority of Social Democrats and Greens, after the collapse of the coalition with the expulsion of the Liberals.

Kukies, 56, will replace the president of the Liberal Party (FDP), Christian Lindner, who was dismissed yesterday by Scholz with the argument of the loss of confidence and the unwillingness to find compromises to save the coalition.

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Economist by training, he worked for a long time for the investment bank Goldman Sachs and before moving to the Foreign Ministry he was Secretary of State in the Ministry of Finance between 2018 and 2021.

The president demands that politicians be up to it

For his part, the President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, urged on Thursday all political leaders to assume their responsibility in the face of the enormous challenge now of having a minority government and, almost certainly, early general elections in March after the breakup of the coalition.

“This is not the time for tactics and skirmishes. It’s time for common sense and responsibility. I expect all those responsible to rise to the magnitude of the challenges,” said the head of state in a brief appearance before the media.

Steinmeier recalled that in the 75-year history of the Federal Republic of Germany, it has rarely happened that a government coalition has ceased to have a majority in the Lower House or Bundestag before the end of the legislature.

The president of Germany said that, although the collapse of the Government “is not the end of the world” and the German Constitution includes provisions for these cases, “it is a political crisis that we have to leave behind and that we will leave behind.”

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Before the collapse of the coalition, the general elections were scheduled for September 28, while now, given the high possibility that Scholz will lose the vote because he is in the minority, they will probably be held in advance in March.

The German President must decide on the dissolution of the Lower House if the Lower House withdraws its confidence in the Chancellor, in accordance with Article 68 of the Basic Law.

“I am willing to make this decision,” said Steinmeier, who insisted that Germany “needs stable majorities and a government capable of acting,” so “that will be my yardstick.”

International

Security Council to Hold Emergency Meeting on Middle East Crisis

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday condemned the “military escalation in the Middle East” following attacks by the United States and Israel against Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes, just hours before an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council.

“I call for the immediate cessation of hostilities and de-escalation,” Guterres said in a statement.

The Security Council is scheduled to meet on Saturday at 21:00 GMT (4:00 p.m. in New York) to address “the situation in the Middle East,” the United Nations announced.

The meeting, during which Guterres will deliver remarks, was convened at the request of France, Bahrain, Colombia, Russia and China, according to a diplomatic source.

International

Trump Floats “Friendly Takeover” of Cuba Amid Rising Tensions

U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that his administration is considering what he described as a “friendly takeover” of Cuba, as Washington continues to increase pressure on the island’s communist government.

“The Cuban government is talking to us and they have very serious problems, as you know. They have no money, they have nothing at this moment, but they are talking to us and maybe we will see a friendly takeover of Cuba,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House for a trip to Texas.

Earlier in the week, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Cuba needed a “radical change,” shortly after Washington eased restrictions on oil exports to the island for what officials described as “humanitarian reasons,” amid a deep economic crisis.

The United States has imposed an energy blockade on Cuba since January, citing what it calls an “extraordinary threat” posed by the communist-run island, located roughly 150 kilometers (90 miles) off the coast of Florida, to U.S. national security.

International

Argentina’s Senate Reviews Milei-Backed Labor Overhaul

Argentina’s Senate on Friday began reviewing the Labor Modernization Law promoted by the administration of President Javier Milei, a proposal that would significantly reshape labor rules across the country.

The upper chamber opened its final discussion of the contentious initiative, which revises the method used to calculate severance payments — lowering the amounts owed in dismissal cases — and introduces an “hour bank” mechanism that allows overtime to be offset with paid leave rather than extra wages.

The legislation also broadens the classification of essential services, a change that would place new limits on the right to strike in designated sectors.

The bill was initially approved by the Senate on February 11 and then moved to the Chamber of Deputies, where lawmakers passed it with amendments. It has now returned to the Senate for definitive approval.

Outside the Congress building in Buenos Aires, workers, trade unions and left-wing organizations staged demonstrations beginning at midday. The gathering later thinned out amid reports of disturbances and a strong police presence. Security forces had secured the area surrounding the legislature since early morning hours.

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Union leaders contend that the reform weakens labor protections, while many business representatives back the measure but stress that sustainable formal employment will require economic expansion, improved credit conditions, greater investment and a more dynamic domestic market.