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Petty tactics, broken trust and staged disputes: why the German coalition collapsed

After the sacking of finance minister Lindner, Germany heads for elections

Nov 7, 2024 11:06 107

In recent weeks, the Federal Chancellor has rarely been heard to speak so sharply and clearly. Olaf Scholz not only fired Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner. He also wants to prevent "damage to our country,", Cet De Eff reported.

Without this dismissal there will be no government capable of acting, without this dismissal the country will "sink into chaos", says Scholz.

There is no basis of trust for further cooperation.

Lindner's economic concept would divide society. He would want to pit external security against internal security. Scholz said: "I am not prepared to fund our support for Ukraine and investment in our defense at the expense of social cohesion.

Anyone who refuses a decision or compromise proposal in such a situation is "acting irresponsibly. As chancellor, I cannot tolerate this," quoted the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" as saying. what the German chancellor said.

As always at the traffic lights: when two people argue, there is room for something in the middle, Cet De Ef points out, referring to the position of the third partner in the coalition that has ruled Germany so far – that of the Greens. Vice Chancellor Robert Habek made it clear that his political power could do nothing about it. The rift in the coalition was felt, the hole in the budget could be filled, but Lindner did not take part.

"The problems will not disappear even if we no longer have our own majority. Despite Trump and everything else," Habek noted.

After Lindner's dismissal and the collapse of the coalition, the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" points out, for the first time since 2005 there will be a red-green government (GSDP and the Greens) again, although it will not have a majority in parliament . It will only exist for a transitional period, which is not clear how long it will last. On January 15, Scholz wants to call a confidence vote in the Bundestag to trigger new elections. Politicians from other parties are calling for the vote of confidence to be called immediately, the newspaper adds.

GSDP general secretary Matthias Miersch apparently expects Olaf Scholz to run again for chancellor of the Social Democrats in new elections. "I fully expect that," Miersch said on the Politico podcast when asked about it.

In the same tone, the leader of the GSDP, Saskia Esken, spoke: in the program of Er Te El "Direct" she said: "It will be Olaf Scholz, we enter the election campaign together and we are convinced that we will win the election."

In the context of the collapse of the ruling coalition, today the parliamentary groups of the CDU and the CSU will discuss the situation, notes "Süddeutsche Zeitung". Deputies must meet in an extraordinary session from 8 am. Afterwards, the CDU parliamentary group and chairman Friedrich Merz and the deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag Alexander Dobrind will inform the public about the results.

"Too often the necessary compromises were drowned out by publicly staged disputes and loud ideological demands. All too often Federal Minister Lindner blocked legislation in an inappropriate manner. Too often he has engaged in petty party-political tactics. "He has violated my trust too often," quoted "Handelsblatt" as saying. the reasons listed by Scholz for the dismissal of the finance minister..

The tripartite coalition is now history, but Chancellor Olaf Scholz still wants to push important projects through parliament, notes the "Frankfurter Rundschau". The politician from the GSDP said after the end of the coalition that he wanted to put all draft laws to a vote in the remaining weeks of the Bundestag session until Christmas.

Spread "Frankfurter Roundshow" perhaps the most important of them for GSDP is the stabilization of the statutory pension. At the end of September, the Bundestag took up the first reading with the long-prepared pension package. In essence, a stable level of pensions must be guaranteed; pension payments must keep pace with wage developments. However, due to an aging population, this is becoming more expensive - which in turn leads to higher premiums for younger people. The coalition wants to mitigate this projected increase in contributions by investing money in the stock market and using the profits.

Another decision that needs to be taken quickly is that of implementing the rules of the Common European Asylum System. Yesterday morning, the coalition decided on two changes to the law. The reform includes, among other things, an obligation to verify the identity of arrivals.

Germany is in economic decline and industry is doing particularly badly, which is why Chancellor Scholz wants to push through "immediate measures" for industry by the end of the year. In particular, he said a package of measures should be drawn up to secure jobs in the car industry and in the many supplier companies. For example, it is possible to introduce new subsidy measures to stimulate sales of electric cars. However, the measures to strengthen the industry will cost billions, the newspaper states.