Finance Minister calls for new elections The Germans could be left without a coalition government tomorrow
The German government is on the brink of collapse: the already rarely harmonious traffic light coalition is seething more than ever. The finance minister is calling for new elections, the chancellor refuses.
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- A showdown is expected in the ongoing dispute between Germany's traffic light coalition.
- At a meeting of the party leaders on Wednesday evening, the continuation of the governing alliance is at stake.
- A collapse of the traffic light coalition can no longer be ruled out. It is unclear how things would continue in Germany.
Update, 8.30 p.m.: At a crisis meeting in Berlin, Finance Minister Christian Lindner apparently called for new elections, reports Bild. He reportedly asked Chancellor Olaf Scholz to clear the way for new elections in January 2025. The head of government has refused, saying that this should enable a new government to be formed in Germany "in an orderly and dignified manner".
There is no better way to summarize the mood in the German government than Der Spiegel: "Scholz won't give up. Lindner is provocative. And the Greens are annoyed," writes the news magazine. The traffic light coalition of Social Democrats, Liberals and Greens is threatening to burst in Berlin - and soon.
German Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) have been meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) for six-eye talks for days. Officially, these meetings are about unresolved issues in economic and budgetary policy: how to plug a billion-euro hole in the 2025 budget and get the badly battered German economy back on track.
Unofficially, a premature end to the traffic light coalition is on the cards.
Everyone in the Berlin marriage of convenience is just annoyed
The fragile alliance has rarely shown any cooperation, trust or willingness to compromise since the 2021 general election. The joy of working together has long since evaporated. So far, however, no partner has dared to break away. The reason: in view of the poor poll ratings for all three parties, it could be a fall into the abyss.
But the dissonance has become too loud to be ignored any longer. Habeck is "fedup" with the situation. The FDP "lacks the imagination" as to how to proceed. Olaf Scholz rumbles: "I am the chancellor!"
The struggle to find a way out of the government crisis is taking on dramatic proportions. The FDP has called for an "autumn of decisions".
According to SPD leader Lars Klingbeil, we have now reached the "week of decisions". Actually already on the "day of decision": if no solution is found in a large round of coalition talks in the evening, the traffic light system will indeed be on the brink of collapse.
The FDP could leave the government
That would not be surprising. Traditionally, everyone argues with everyone else in the three-way marriage. This was recently demonstrated again by the fact that Scholz, Habeck and Lindner each made their own proposals on economic policy instead of coordinating.
At the moment, the SPD and Greens in particular are at odds with the FDP: Both have the smallest coalition partner under suspicion of working towards the big bang. The current bone of contention is a policy paper by Lindner in which he calls for a change of direction in economic policy without prior agreement.
If no agreement is reached on Wednesday evening, the collapse of the German coalition government would probably be unavoidable. It is quite conceivable that the FDP would then leave the government.
Theoretically, it would be possible for the SPD and Greens to continue in a minority government until the regular election date in September 2025. The remaining coalition government would have to seek majorities in the Bundestag for each bill, but can hardly hope for support from the other parties. Nevertheless, this scenario is not unthinkable for SPD leader Saskia Esken: They are prepared for it.
With agency material.
