JOSÉ HENRIQUE MARIANTE
One day after dismissing the Finance Minister and imploding the coalition that supported his government, Olaf Scholz came under pressure from the opposition to speed up the calling of new elections in Germany. The chancellor is not obliged to do this, and the impasse promises to further intensify the political crisis in Europe’s largest economy.
On Wednesday night (6), after a series of fruitless meetings, Scholz announced the dismissal of Christian Lindner, the highest ranking member of the FDP, the liberal party that made up the semaphore – the coalition’s nickname, which still included the Greens and the Social -SPD Democrats, the Prime Minister’s acronym.
The rupture had been brewing for days, since Lindner and the Minister of Economy and Vice-Chancellor, Robert Habeck, entered into a collision course over the country’s economic direction. The two launched unilateral recovery plans, which were absolutely antagonistic.
In a speech, Scholz harshly criticized Lindner, surprised with an explicit reference to the election of Donald Trump in the USA and stated that he would submit to a vote of confidence in Parliament in January. Defeated in this vote, which is likely, the chancellor would open the way to bringing forward the elections from September to March 2025.
Shortly before meeting Scholz, this Thursday (7), the leader of the opposition, Friedrich Merz, from the CDU, told journalists that the proposed schedule did not make sense and that the vote of confidence should be submitted to Parliament in maximum two weeks. “There is no reason for us to postpone this. The government is over,” declared the conservative.
According to the German press, the meeting, as expected, did not produce results. The last time a chancellor called a vote of confidence in Germany was in 2005, when Social Democrat Gerhard Schröder brought forward the elections. Angela Merkel of the CDU won.
Scholz claims that the country needs to debate and approve important projects first, such as the 2025 Budget, measures to strengthen the economy, which has been struggling for two years and will now face Trump’s promised tariffs, as well as the support package for Ukraine. .
Merz and the CDU appear ahead in voting intention polls, which gives their demand a certain electoral aspect. German legislation, however, leaves the rite in the hands of the chancellor, precisely to discourage opportunistic attempts to take power, a legacy from wartime. It would be necessary for the opposition to aggregate a majority in favor of a candidate for prime minister, something that seems unlikely in the current Parliament.
Now or in January, after the vote of confidence, it is up to the country’s president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to call new elections, a protocol measure, but which he takes based on his perception of the country’s governability. “The end of a coalition is not the end of the world”, said the president, in support of Scholz. “It is time for reason and responsibility.”
The AfD, Germany’s rising far-right party, also called for the process to be accelerated. Its performance in the polls is superior to that of the coalition parties. He also trusts in the publicized effect that Trump’s success in the USA could have on the mood of German voters, eager for change.
Europe’s largest economy, stagnant for two years and with outdated infrastructure, is facing a tariff war with China and should be one of the most penalized by the second Trump administration, which promises to surcharge products, especially cars, Germany’s export product par excellence.
Lindner’s intransigence, who provoked coalition members over the weekend with a proposal for a neoliberal shock, with spending cuts and an end to subsidies, was seen as reckless by some political analysts. Of the three acronyms, the FDP has the most fragile situation from an electoral point of view, as, at this moment, it would not even reach Parliament’s barrier clause, which is 5%.
One of the party’s ministers in the government even asked to remain in the cabinet and announced his departure from the party. In addition to continuing in the Transport portfolio, Volker Wissing will hold the Justice department, which was also with the SPD.
