German government collapses after Scholz sacks finance minister

Fragile coalition crumbles after days of crisis talks, with elections expected as soon as March, six months ahead of schedule

Germany’s fragile government has collapsed after Olaf Scholz fired his finance minister on Wednesday evening.
The Chancellor sacked Christian Lindner after days of crisis talks and amid a deluge of rumours that his turbulent coalition was about to come to an end.
In a statement to the press on Wednesday evening, the chancellor accused his finance minister of “breaking his trust” and putting the “short-term survival of his party over the wellbeing of the country.”
Mr Scholz, 66, said that he would put his chancellorship to a vote of confidence in January, a move that will clear the way for early elections in March.
Mr Lindner, head of the pro-business Free Democrats, had been pushing for corporate tax relief and a delay to net zero targets as part of a comprehensive package to get the economy moving after years of stagnation.
Mr Scholz claimed that he made a “generous offer” to Mr Lindner but that the finance minister “showed no interest whatsoever in accepting this offer for the good of the country”.
“Too often, Mr Lindner has blocked laws in an irrelevant manner, too often he has engaged in petty party-political tactics, too often he has broken my trust,” Mr Scholz said.
Mr Lindner hit back in a statement made shortly after in which he accused Mr Scholz of “not having the strength to give our country a new start.”
He added that the Chancellor had tried to get him to suspend the country’s strict debt brake rules, something he refused to accept.
At the end of last week, Mr Lindner set out his conditions for staying in the government in an internal paper that called for an “economic transformation”.
Among the measures were a demand to cut the corporate tax level, freeze all new business regulations and push back the target of achieving net zero by five years.
The paper was immediately rejected by Mr Scholz’s Social Democrats and the Greens, the third party in the coalition.
Mr Scholz began non-stop crisis meetings with his finance minister and vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck of the Greens on Monday, but the three men failed to reach agreement.
Mr Habeck also made a statement on Wednesday. Seemingly referring to the outcome of the US election, he said the breakdown of the coalition was “tragic on a day like this when Europe should be showing solidarity”.
Mr Scholz formed Germany’s first ever three-party coalition in 2021 on the promise to “dare more progress”.
However, plans to focus on investing in the green transition and modernise Germany’s outdated infrastructure were thrown into chaos two months later by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Scholz and his ministers then had to switch into crisis mode as they sought new energy suppliers after previous governments had almost exclusively bought natural gas from the Kremlin.
Ideological struggles, particularly between the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats quickly emerged over issues including fuel subsidies and the planned shutdown of the country’s remaining nuclear power plants.
An attempt by the Greens to ban all new gas heating installations in private homes led to the government’s popularity plummeting, while Mr Scholz was often criticised for an inability to communicate properly with the public.
Polling has shown the coalition, often referred to as the traffic light coalition due to the colours of the three parties involved, as the least popular of any since polling began.
Mr Scholz points to the fact that the energy crisis has been stabilised as proof that his government has made progress despite the negative press.