The German chancellor, the social democrat Olaf Scholz, dismissed his Minister of Finance this Wednesday, the liberal leader Christian Lindner, after proposing to call early elections due to the serious crisis facing the coalition of social democrats, greens and liberals, which is facing a possible breakup.
The news was brought forward by the Chancellor’s spokespersonSteffen Hebestreitthat the weekly quoted Die Zeit, while other media like the NTV television channel and the newspaper Picture They also announced the firing of Lindner. IThe leaders of the three parties which form the tripartite They met this afternoon in Berlin, in a meeting also attended by Scholz, Lindner and the Vice-Chancellor and Minister of Economy, the Green Robert Habeck, who have held several three-way meetings since Monday to try to bring the positions closer together.
The goal it was to try to save the coalition, plunged into a deep crisis less than a year before the legislative elections scheduled for fall 2025 and at a time when the popularity of the three parties has fallen to a minimum, according to polls. The rift was precipitated by fundamental disagreements over plans to revive the German economy, in its second year of recession, and over next year’s budgets, which are still under parliamentary discussion.
According to experts, the departure of the liberals from the government opens up different scenarios, including the possibility that the Social Democrats and Scholz’s Greens try to govern in a minority or that the chancellor submits to a question of confidence and then call early elections, which could take place in March.
Another option would be for Scholz to try to form a coalition with the conservative opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which, however, has not yet been open to this possibility.
