Germany is facing a government crisis after Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired his finance minister, who is also the leader of one of the three governing parties.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner requested that the government call new elections, and Scholz responded by dismissing him.
– I made a proposal to Lindner during the day, a proposal that he rejected,” Scholz said at a press conference.
Jona Källgren writes that Europe is now facing an uncertain future.
There is a quote often attributed to Vladimir Lenin: “There are decades when nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades happen.” That’s kind of how it feels right now. The news of Donald Trump’s election victory in the United States had barely reached Europe before the German press began to speculate that the government in Berlin was facing a deep crisis.
It’s been bubbling for months. With declining opinion figures, the three governing parties have begun to position themselves for next autumn’s elections. The problem is that the Social Democrats, the German Green Party and the liberal FDP want completely different things, which are in direct opposition to each other.
The Liberals’ Lindner demanded more and more: tax cuts, easing of climate regulations and reduced bureaucracy. Finally, he demanded that Scholz call an early new election. It seems that Lindner did not quite dare to leave the government himself, but instead demanded more and became increasingly problematic to finally be fired. Finally, Scholz had enough.
Scholz did not hold back in his criticism of Lindner: “Far too often Lindner has broken my trust. You cannot govern like that,” he said at the press conference.
An uncertain future
Now Scholz will continue to govern with the Greens in a minority government until January. On January 15, Scholz will allow a vote of confidence. Until then, Scholz hopes that he will get support from the Christian Democrats, who sit in opposition.
If he does not succeed in that – which is not very likely – there will be new elections, probably two months later, i.e. in mid-March.
Europe therefore faces a future where Trump takes over in the US, Macron is politically weakened, and Scholz may be busy with an election. Decades can definitely happen in weeks – or at least months.