Germany's Scholz is open to election date discussions

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, mired in a political crisis, has said he is open to discussions on whether to move forward with snap elections he had expected to be held by March.

Speaking in Budapest, as his rivals in Berlin called for a vote in January, the German chancellor urged a "calm debate" first on what laws can pass parliament this year under his minority government.

This "could help answer the question of when the right time is" for a confidence vote leading to an early election, he said, speaking on the sidelines of an EU summit.

Germany was plunged into political turmoil when Mr Scholz's three-party coalition collapsed earlier this week after the chancellor fired his finance minister, Christian Lindner.

The move came after weeks of bitter feuding that have rocked the coalition government between Mr Scholz's Social Democrats, Mr Lindner's Free Democrats and the Greens.

This has left Mr Scholz battling on with a minority government, relying on opposition support to pass laws on a case-by-case basis.

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The leader of the conservative opposition CDU, Friedrich Merz, has warned it will not cooperate until Mr Scholz declares an immediate vote of confidence to allow for polls as early as January.

Mr Scholz's comments in Hungary threw the ball back into the opposition's court, urging them to help finish up crucial government business first in the Bundestag lower house of parliament.

"It would be good if an agreement could now be reached among the democratic groupings in the Bundestag on which laws can be passed this year," the chancellor said.

"The election date is not a purely political" decision, Mr Scholz said, adding that the timing must also "allow sufficient time for the organisation of a fair and democratic election".