The Free Democratic Party (FDP), part of the ruling coalition in Germany, announced the withdrawal of its ministers from the government after Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired Finance Minister Christian Lindner, leader of the FDP. This was announced by faction leader Christian Duerr, Tagesschau reports citing DPA.
The Chancellor accused Lindner of “too often failing to justify his confidence” and of “rejecting commitment.” He also criticized the FDP leader for being more concerned about the “survival of his party.” Lindner accused Scholz of deliberately breaking up the coalition.
“By doing this, you are leading Germany into a phase of uncertainty.” – said the minister.
Dürr noted that it was impossible for the coalition to decide the direction of “economic change”; Scholz’s proposals would not be enough for Germany to advance economically.
As of 2021, a “traffic light coalition” is in power in Germany: it includes the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD, Scholz’s party), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Greens.
The FDP ministers in the government, in addition to Lindner, are: Minister of Justice Marco Buschman; Minister of Transport and Digital Technologies Volker Wissing; Minister of Education and Science Bettina Stark-Watzinger.
Scholz announced that on January 15 he intends to address the Bundestag with a question about the vote of confidence in the Government. Therefore, it is possible that early elections will be held in the country no later than the end of March. The next elections will be held next year in September.
Disagreements within the ruling coalition did not allow it to reach an agreement on the country’s budget for 2025. The situation worsened after the publication of a letter from the Minister of Finance to Scholz and the Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck with Lindner’s proposals to reactivate the economy. He called, in particular, for tax cuts for businesses and cuts in social benefits. The SPD and the Greens rejected the initiatives of the head of the Ministry of Finance, RBC recalls.
