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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has dismissed his finance minister on Wednesday, placing the government on the edge of collapse. In a televised announcement, Scholz stated that he had let go of Finance Minister Christian Lindner, asserting that it was “necessary to prevent harm to our country.”
The firing came after days of political negotiation between the key members of Germany’s ruling “traffic light” coalition government – Scholz of the Social Democratic Party, Lindner of the Free Democratic Party, and Robert Habeck of the Green Party.
Following the announcement, Lindner’s Free Democratic Party said it had left the coalition but Habeck said the Greens would remain.
Scholz said he would now call a confidence vote for January 15, which could allow elections to be held by the end of March next year. He said he would remain in office until January 15 and attempt to get the most important legislation done, suggesting he would talk to opposition leader Friedrich Merz’ of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to pass legislation relating to the economy and defense. “The economy cannot wait until after the elections,” Scholz said.
The so-called “traffic light crisis,” as it is known locally in reference to the the colors of the governing coalition, was triggered by competing views on the future of Germany’s economy among the three partners.
Prior to his firing, Lindner had triggered days of wrangling with the publication of an 18-page economic paper published last week, entitled “Germany’s economic turnaround.” It had been described in German media as the coalition’s divorce papers, as its tone and contents appear distinctly at odds with the positions of his government partners.
In the detailed document, which advocates for tax cuts, Lindner said “an economic turnaround with a partly fundamental revision of key political decisions is necessary in order to avert damage to Germany as a business location.”
The Chancellor accused the finance minister of being “not about serving the common good but about serving his own clientele and party.”
According to Scholz, Lindner will also be dismissed by the country’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
