Scholz due to speak following announcement Germany will hold election on 23 February after break-up of ruling coalition

Greetings, it’s midday in Berlin and German chancellor Olaf Scholz will soon address the Bundestag for the first time since his government collapsed , firing the starting gun on his election campaign.

For months Germany has been hamstrung by the weakness of its squabbling three-way coalition government, leaving allies lamenting that Europe’s most powerful country and largest economy was unable to take big decisions. That changed last week, when Scholz sacked his finance minister , the pro-business liberal leader, Christian Lindner, triggering the end of the coalition and early elections.