Germany’s Free Democratic Party (FDP) has announced that all its ministers will leave Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government. The three-way government coalition of Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the FDP has thus definitively disintegrated. Scholz previously announced that he had decided to dismiss Finance Minister Christian Lindner, who is also the chairman of the FDP. The party had four ministers in the government – in addition to Lindner, they are Transport Minister Volker Wissing, Justice Minister Marco Buschmann and Education and Research Minister Bettina Starková-Watzingerová.
06.11.2024 20:47 , updated: 23:35
Photo: SITA/AP, Markus Schreiber
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will ask the Bundestag for a vote of confidence after the New Year.
Scholz announced on Wednesday evening that he had decided to ask the Bundestag for a vote of confidence. It is expected that the deputies will not say it to him. This will be followed by early elections, which should be held at the latest at the end of March.
During the evening negotiations, the representatives of the German coalition tried to find a way out of the deep crisis, which the government got into mainly due to disagreements regarding financial and economic policy. Finally, Lindner suggested holding early elections, until which the FDP would be willing to continue in coalition government. The Social Democrat Scholz refused and dismissed Lindner as finance minister. In a speech after the negotiations, the chancellor then said that Lindner was acting selfishly, he was only interested in his party clientele, and therefore lost his trust.
Scholz said he recalled Lindner to “prevent damage to our country.” “We need an effective government that will have the power to make the necessary decisions for our country,” he emphasized.
Scholz also said he agreed with the Greens’ Vice-Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck that Germany needed to quickly be clear about the next policy course. According to him, the reason is also a number of challenges that the country is facing, including the Russian war against Ukraine or the new election of Donald Trump as president of the USA.
Lindner accused Scholz in his statement that the end of the government coalition was “calculated” and the chancellor had already prepared it before the evening meeting. According to him, this is also evidenced by the “precisely prepared statement” that Scholz presented to journalists shortly after the end of the negotiations. Lindner said that the Social Democrats and the Greens did not even consider the proposals he brought to the negotiations. Scholz allegedly gave him ultimatums instead, including that the validity of the so-called debt brake be suspended. Lindner has long been known as a tough supporter of this constitutional measure, which prevents the country from going into debt too quickly. According to Lindner, Scholz did not even want to hear about the proposal to “orderly” reach early elections.
Ministers for the Green Party, Vice-Chancellor and Minister of Economy Habeck and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said at a press conference that the members of their party will remain in office until early elections. Habeck promised that, despite the situation, Germany would fulfill its international obligations. Baerbock emphasized that even due to the election of Trump as the US president, it is necessary to continue supporting Ukraine, which is resisting the Russian invasion.
The dismissal of the Minister of Finance occurred at a time of disagreements in the triple coalition. These differences came to light after Finance Minister Lindner’s policy document was published last week. The document, which according to Lindner was not intended for publication, calls for a fundamental “change in orientation” of the Scholz government’s economic policy.
According to Scholz, the government will submit all draft laws to the Bundestag by Christmas, the approval of which cannot be delayed. According to him, these include, among other things, measures to support industry or draft laws in the field of migration.
The parties of the German government, made up of the Social Democracy (SPD), the Greens and the FDP, have been trying to find a way out of the deep crisis in recent days, which was caused primarily by disagreements in the process of reviving the economy. However, the evening coalition negotiations collapsed. The media have been speculating about early elections for several weeks now, citing March 9 as their possible date.
Source: spravy.pravda.sk
