Will the poor health of the German economy take with it the coalition that has governed the country since 2021? As difficulties mount for the euro zone’s largest economy, the government of Social Democrat (SPD) Olaf Scholz is once again torn by seemingly insurmountable divisions. The examination of the 2025 budget, weakened by lower than forecast tax revenues and which must be finalized with a vote before mid-November, has exacerbated differences between the three parties of the ruling coalition in Berlin.
At the center of the dissension: the measures considered necessary to recover the country’s economy, which could be in recession for the second consecutive year and for the first time in more than twenty years. Should we intervene and spend more to invest, support the economy, consumers and companies in difficulty, as the SPD and the Greens want, of which Economy Minister Robert Habeck is a member, who proposes the creation of an investment fund public? fund of several billion euros? Or, on the contrary, should we keep accounts, reduce social benefits and let the market take its course, as the Liberal Democrats (FDP) demand, first of all its president, Finance Minister Christian Lindner, defender of the contract of the coalition? signed in 2021 and the “debt brake”Constitutional principle that limits the use of debt? These fundamental disagreements, never overcome since Olaf Scholz came to power, threaten to bring about his downfall at regular intervals.
“These differences have been brewing for a long time, but they came to light at the time of the law requiring the replacement of gas and diesel boilers”adopted in 2023 and erected as a symbol of “punitive ecology,” recalls Uwe Jun, professor of political science at the University of Trier. “Since then the disagreements have only gotten worse”observes the researcher, estimating “unlikely” that the coalition spends the fall, given the greater frequency of attacks among its members. Now they are being done in broad daylight, to the point that the Chancellor himself speaks publicly of a “theatrical scene”. “Sometimes it is very hard to endure all the discussions and get good results from them”he admitted during an interview with the ZDF television channel on Thursday, October 24.
You have 62.7% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
