The German opposition is increasingly confident that new elections will be held in mid-February, following the collapse of the previous three-way coalition government. Carsten Linnemann, deputy leader of the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), said on Tuesday he believes an election date of February 16 or February 23 can be agreed with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) by the end of the day. “I hope and am sure that we will very quickly get clarity – probably in the next hours,” Linnemann told broadcaster ZDF. Sources told dpa late on Monday that CDU leader Friedrich Merz pro…