German coalition on the brink after Scholz fires key minister
Germany’s ruling coalition is facing a crisis after Chancellor Olaf Scholz dismissed a key minister and announced plans to hold a vote of confidence in his government early next year.
Scholz expressed a lack of trust in Finance Minister Christian Lindner, leader of the FDP, a rival party in the coalition alongside Scholz’s Social Democrats and the Greens.
This development means that Scholz’s government no longer holds a majority in parliament. The confidence vote could pave the way for early elections in March.
The “traffic light” coalition, led by Scholz, has been in power since 2021. However, internal tensions had been escalating for weeks before the situation boiled over on Wednesday night.
Scholz accused his former finance minister of “betraying my trust” and prioritizing his party’s interests over the country’s well-being. He stressed that Germany must demonstrate its reliability to other nations, particularly in light of Donald Trump’s election in the US.
Lindner, in turn, criticized Scholz for “leading Germany into a phase of uncertainty.”
The political crisis within the coalition has thrown Europe’s largest economy into turmoil, coming just hours after Trump’s election sparked widespread concern over the future of Europe’s economy and security.
When the coalition was formed in 2021, each of the three parties—the Social Democrats, the Greens, and the economically liberal FDP—had plans to make significant investments to address their core constituencies’ needs.
However, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 sent energy prices surging, and left Germany facing a increase in defence spending – and the cost of taking in 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees.
Germany is now facing its second year without economic growth.
Scholz and his Green partners want tackle this by loosening constitutional rules on public debt to allow more spending. Lindner wants to pay for tax cuts by slashing welfare and social budgets and pushing back environmental targets.
Economy Minister Robert Habeck of the Greens said the party would not quit the government and that its ministers would remain in office.
Scholz announced that a vote of confidence would be held in Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, on 15 January.
If MPs vote down the government, the country would hold fresh elections within weeks, instead of the scheduled date in September.
