German opposition leader Friedrich Merz has welcomed his party’s agreement with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government to hold early elections in February. “February 23 is a good solution,” Merz said in Berlin on Tuesday after a meeting with lawmakers from his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU). Merz – the favourite to become the country’s next chancellor – said holding an election in January would have brought a whole host of difficulties. Nevertheless, he argued that Germany was losing around a month of valuable time needed…