Under-fire Scholz to trigger German elections

(ANSA-AFP) - BERLIN, DEC 16 - Germany's embattled centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz traded angry blows with his top rival ahead of a parliament vote Monday that was expected to trigger the process towards February 23 elections. Scholz, 66, whose three-party coalition collapsed last month, has called a confidence vote which he is expected to lose, clearing the way for the dissolution of the Bundestag and a return to the ballot box. Friedrich Merz, 69, the top candidate of the conservative CDU-CSU opposition alliance of ex-chancellor Angela Merkel, is well ahead in opinion polls to became the next leader of Europe's top economy. In parliament, Scholz outlined plans for massive spending on security, business and social welfare, but Merz demanded to know why he had not taken those steps in the past, asking: "Were you on another planet?" Scholz argued that his government had made great progress over the past three years, including boosting spending on the German armed forces, which he said previous CDU-led governments had left "in a deplorable state". "It is high time to invest powerfully and decisively in Germany," Scholz said, warning about Russia's war in Ukraine that "a highly armed nuclear power is waging war in Europe just two hours' flight from here". But Merz fired back at Scholz that he had left the country in "one of the biggest economic crises of the postwar era". "You had your chance, but you did not use it ... You, Mr. Scholz, do not deserve confidence", charged Merz. If Scholz loses the vote, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier can then move to dissolve the legislature and formally declare the agreed February 23 election date. (ANSA-AFP).