Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was described as colorless, annoyed the dismissed minister with devotion.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he will no longer subject Germany to the behavior of the minister he fired. ZumaWire / MVPHOTOS
Germany’s governing coalition fell apart on Wednesday, accompanied by a fierce dispute.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz first fired German Finance Minister Christian Lindner. Later, the Free Democratic Party FDP, to which Lindner belongs, announced that all its ministers would resign from the government.
The ministers plan to submit their resignations as a group. In addition to Lindner, there are three FDP ministers in the government: Justice Minister Marco Buschmann, Digital and Transport Minister Volker Wissing and Education and Science Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger.
Der Spiegel and the news agencies AFP and Reuters report on the matter, among others.
“Egoism is incomprehensible”
The 66-year-old Scholz is known as a colorless figure, which Der Spiegel once titled “the embodiment of the boredom of politics”.
However, Scholz was not gray when he fired the finance minister. The disputes are related to disagreements about the budget.
At the press conference, Scholz said he fired the minister to save Germany from damage.
Scholz accused Lindner of short-sighted and irresponsible politics, with which he tries to play into the pocket of his own party without caring about the common interest of the entire country.
– Such egoism is completely incomprehensible, Scholz teased.
According to Scholz, Lindner had betrayed his trust.
– We need a government that is able to act, that has the strength to make the necessary decisions, Scholz said.
The dismissed Lindner says Scholz demanded the removal of the debt brake in the German constitution, which he refused.
Ukraine part of Scholz’s offer
Disagreements flared up last week when Lindner presented his plan to revive the German economy.
Other parties immediately rejected the proposal combining tax cuts and deregulation.
Scholz says that he presented his own proposal to the Ministry of Finance, which included the wishes of the FDP.
Among other things, Scholz’s presentation included ensuring that energy remains affordable for German citizens.
One of the points of the presentation was related to Ukraine.
– We are increasing our support for Ukraine, which is facing a difficult winter. This is a very important message after the US elections: we can be trusted, Scholz told a news conference about his plan.
Support must be sought from the opposition
Olaf Scholz is expected to lead a minority government until the next election.
If the government does not receive the confidence of the Bundestag in January, early elections will be held in Germany in March at the earliest.
Scholz’s Social Democratic Party and the Green Party of Germany remain in the government coalition.
In order to push its policies, the coalition has to fish for votes from the opposition parties, because it no longer has a majority in the German Bundestag.
Scholz plans to seek support from Friedrich Merz, leader of the CDU. Merz is faced with a dilemma: if he does not support Scholz’s government, it could jeopardize the issues he is pushing for, for example the continuity of support for Ukraine. Merz strongly supports Ukraine.
According to Spiegel, minority governments have historically only lasted a short time before collapsing.
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