The CDU and CSU have failed in the Bundestag with the plan to quote Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in the plenum. With a mutton jump, there was no majority for the demand of the opposition Union faction on Wednesday.

With the so-called mutton leap, the MPs leave the hall and return through different doors, depending on how they want to vote. In this way, the majorities can be clearly clarified. According to the assessment of the Parliamentary Presidency, a vote by raising the hand had previously not produced a clear result.

The vote on Wednesday was the first mutton jump in this legislative period.

The occasion was a current hour on the economic situation in Germany, which the CDU and CSU had requested. Union faction leader Friedrich Merz (CDU) was the first speaker to criticize that the government bench was vacant despite the important issue.

“This is a really gross disregard for the German Bundestag,” said Merz. “And that documents at the same time a really breathtaking disinterest in the concerns of the people in our country.”

In his speech, Merz also accused the government of inaction. The traffic light government does not want to push through any reforms and is instead taking concerted action, said the CDU leader. This will turn out just like previous ones: “They last for years, they are endless rounds of talks, they are an alibi for not wanting to push through any reforms in this country.”

“Our country is possibly heading for the worst economic crisis since the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany,” warned Merz. It has the highest inflation rate in 30 years, the trade balance is turning negative for the first time in decades, and German companies are threatened with the final loss of international competitiveness. However, the federal government stubbornly refuses to think about a corporate tax reform.

The Defense Committee, which was meeting at the same time, interrupted its session, in which the ratification of Finland and Sweden’s NATO accession was being debated, for the mutton jump. Representatives of the traffic light parties criticized the CDU and CSU for this.

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