The decision follows a budget fight that prompted Chancellor Olaf Scholz to fire his finance minister and announce a confidence vote that is widely expected to fail.

German opposition leaders have welcomed news that the country is set to hold a snap election on the 23rd of February after the collapse the ruling three-party coalition last week.  The Bundestag is expected to hold a confidence vote German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as early as December 16th following the government’s collapse.

In reality, however, the crisis in Berlin could prove to be good news. The coalition of Scholz’s Social Democrats, Greens, and Free Democrats was the most dysfunctional, dithering, and divided German government in decades.