Portrait of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz
The coalition supporting the German government collapsed after Finance Minister Christian Lindner was fired by Chancellor Olaf Scholz. In the pipeline to replace him is the conservative, who has a familiar motto: Make Europe Great Again.
The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholzhis Minister of Finance, Christian Lindnerescalating a long conflict within the German Government and, ultimately, causing the collapse of the fragile coalition between the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Free Democratic Party.
For once, Scholz, often ridiculed as a robotic speaker and without emotions, seemed to be angry and even resentful.
In a video posted on the SPD’s YouTube channel, Scholz blamed Lindner for the government’s collapse and portrayed his former finance minister as petty, uncompromising and untrustworthy.
Linder’s reaction was quick and equally bitter. He accused the chancellor of a lack of ambition and poor leadership.
The Vice Chancellor and Minister of Economy, Robert Habeckadmitted that ministers had been discussing systematically since 2021. But he added that he considered that the collapse of the government It was avoidable and unnecessary.
Wait-I know what Habeck runs for chancelloralthough he and his party, the Greens, find themselves in the most difficult position of all the parties in the coalition. They are in deep crisis and research shows this. In a recent poll, the Greens had the lowest popularity score since 2017.
But Habeck is clearly worried about more than his own party. He issued a stern warning to those who are pinning their hopes on a quick election. In Germany’s increasingly fragmented political landscape, the formation of governments at local and national levels it will only become more difficult.
And now?
For now, Scholz will continue to be chancellor and the majority of ministers will remain in their positions, he explains Katharina Karcherresearcher at the University of Birmingham, in an article in .
But, after losing one of the coalition’s youngest partners, the German Chancellor no longer has a majority in the Bundestag. This makes your government a toothless tiger, unable to pass laws or make important decisions.
Scholz knows this and announced a vote of confidence in the Bundestag for January 15th. If he loses this vote, Scholz could then ask for early elections to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
If Scholz’s plan is successful, the next federal elections in Germany will take place at the end of March — six months ahead of schedule. But the leader of the conservative opposition, Friedrich Merz, has already made it known that he does not want to wait so long.
Merz, who knows that Scholz’s days as chancellor are numbered and that he has a good chance of replacing him, called on Scholz to immediately schedule new elections.
Friedrich Merz, leader of the CDU, Germany’s conservative/Christian Democrat party
Make Europe Great Again
Right now, Friedrich Merz has every reason to be confident. In September 2024, he was unanimously elected as the conservative candidate for chancellorship.
This means that Merz can count on the bipartisan support: the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), which was last in power under the command of Angela Merkeland the Christian Social Union (CSU) in Bavaria.
In contrast to its predecessor, Merz’s mission is close the borders German authorities to asylum seekers, even if this involves violating international agreements.
Merz controversially questions the relevance of the media traditional and use your account on X to speak out against criminal immigrants and gender-inclusive language. Just like Donald Trump, rejects environmentalism and firmly believes in capitalism.
“We would get along well”Merz said when asked about his feelings toward Trump. But there are some differences. For example, Merz has repeatedly highlighted his unconditional support to Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces and pledged to supply Ukraine with more weapons and money.
As training lawyerMerz was deeply critical of Trump’s response to his 2020 election defeat. Afterwards, Merz wrote on Twitter: “Donald Trump is clearly not a Democrat. Refuses to accept your defeat or court decisions.”
In 2024, things are different. Merz is embracing a second Trump presidency. Maybe not with enthusiasm, but certainly with a lot of pragmatism and some hope for the future. Even though he is less vocal about this than Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, Merz’s view is “Make Europe Great Again“.
