The first vibrations from Trump’s election as US President have reached Europe – the ruling ‘Traffic Light’ coalition has cracked and has already almost collapsed
According to the results of the meeting of the coalition committee, the Minister of Finance and leader of the ‘Free Democratic Party’ (FDP) Christian Lindner resigned, followed by all members of the FDP, who have posts in the German federal government, will soon submit their resignations. This means a de facto withdrawal of the party from the coalition.
In addition to Lindner, the FDP is represented in the current government by Transport Minister Volker Wissing, Justice Minister Marco Buschmann and Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger.
At the same time, representatives of the ‘Union 90/Green’ party will remain in the current German government until the new parliamentary elections. This was announced by the head of the ‘Greens’ Robert Habeck, who holds the posts of Minister of Economy of Germany and Vice Chancellor.
Formally, the coalition and parliamentary majority still exists, but in fact it does not exist – the FDP refuse the obligation to support the decisions of the government.
Thus, new elections will be held earlier. According to the German constitution it was supposed to be autumn 2025, but Olaf Scholz will put the question of confidence in himself and the government on 15 January. The German chancellor said this in his address after the coalition committee meeting.
This means an imminent dissolution of the Bundestag. Early elections in Germany could take place as early as March next year.
‘We need a working government,’ Scholz said in his address.
Scholz devoted a large part of his speech to criticising Christian Lindner, saying the latter had too often undermined his credibility. Lindner, the chancellor said, was not serving the common good but ‘his own clientele and party’.
The 2025 budget and measures to revitalise the German economy have been the subject of intense conflict within the ‘traffic light’ coalition.
Christian Lindner, chairman of the FDP and German Finance Minister, suggested that the coalition partners agree to hold early parliamentary elections in the country in early 2025. In this case, according to the media, he would be ready to agree to the adoption of a supplementary German budget for 2024 and remain in the transitional cabinet until the parliamentary elections are held and a new German federal government is formed.
The former finance minister has called for cuts in budget spending and bureaucratic barriers to doing business, tax cuts for the wealthy, and a slowing of the transition to a carbon-neutral economy.
Scholz rejected the proposal and immediately received Linder’s resignation, which would force an election in early 2025.
By contrast, the Social Democrats, represented by Chancellor Scholz, and the Greens, represented by Economy Minister Robert Habeck, favour solving the economy’s problems with targeted government spending, which was planned to be boosted by more borrowing. And stopping the growth of state debt was a key FDP promise in the 2021 election.
Linder agreed twice, in the 2023 and 2024 budgets, to increase the national debt, largely under non-public, but rather accentuated pressure from the White House. The administration of US President Joe Biden valued the ‘Traffic Light’ coalition as a key partner in supporting Ukraine. Now the pressure factor has disappeared, and the coalition immediately collapsed.
