[EM] German parliament votes for military support

[Markus Schulze]

Dear Olli,

you wrote (20 Nov 2001):
> This is peculiar indeed. I looked up the Rules of Procedure
> of the Bundestag (http://www.bundestag.de/gesetze/go/). The
> Chancellor can move a motion of confidence but I couldn't find
> anything about combining it with another motion. But I only
> looked at likely headings.

Article 81 section 1 sentence 2 of the constitution says that the
chancellor can combine a vote of confidence with another motion.

You wrote (20 Nov 2001):
> Why should it be made unattractive? Of course the Prime Minister
> has an edge but new elections are better than a coup d'état
> [as Markus Schulze points out in his posting.]

I agree with you. Early elections should be possible. Early
elections are better than a coup d'etat. However, the Swedish
option doesn't make early elections impossible. It only
guarantees that the right to dissolve the parliament cannot be
misused by the Prime Minister who would otherwise dissolve the
parliament to get a full new term whenever the opinion polls
are promising.

Markus Schulze