7 November 2024 – Shortly after Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election, the German Chancellor undignifiedly throws his Finance Minister Christian Lindner out of the government. But instead of calling a vote of confidence and opening the way for new elections, the Chancellor clings to his chair and the retention of power.
- Crashing end of the German government – but the chancellor clings to power
- Break-up of the coalition prepared by Scholz for a long time
- Chancellor does not want to call a vote of confidence until January 2025
- The government in Germany is at its end
- Why not new elections in Germany immediately?
- SPD and Greens without a majority in the Bundestag
- Opposition calls for immediate vote of confidence and new elections
- Chancellor tries to divert attention from his own misdemeanours
- The German chancellor doesn't make mistakes, or does he?
Crashing end of the German government – but the chancellor clings to power
Editor’s note: Today, things are becoming predominantly political. As passionate democrats, we take the liberty of offering this commentary and opinion on the current situation in Germany. We apologise to our readers if this political digression is not one of your core topics.
The end of the German government is coming crashing down. Even though it had been prepared and orchestrated by the Social Democrats and the Greens for weeks, political Berlin was shocked in many areas by the undignified dismissal of the Federal Minister of Finance and FDP party leader Christian Lindner (FDP) by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).
Break-up of the coalition prepared by Scholz for a long time
Scholz’s statement to the press on Wednesday evening came across exactly as was to be expected: prepared and rehearsed over a long period of time. On the SPD’s YouTube channel, the first few minutes of the Chancellor’s speech were even cut off as a precaution. The longer version can be found here.
Something that Christian Lindner himself also said in his statement on the ejection: ‘His carefully prepared statement from this evening proves that Olaf Scholz was no longer interested in an agreement that was viable for everyone, but in a calculated break with this coalition.’
Chancellor does not want to call a vote of confidence until January 2025
The Chancellor had previously brusquely rejected Mr Lindner’s proposal to seek new elections in an orderly and dignified manner. Olaf Scholz seems to have factored in the fact that new elections are likely to be called anyway, because the SPD and Greens no longer have a majority in the German Bundestag and will hardly be able to win one elsewhere. He therefore intends to wait until mid-January before calling a vote of confidence, which is necessary to vote a government out of office.
The government in Germany is at its end
Thorsten Gerber, CEO of the Gerber Group, currently on a business trip, said: ‘Scholz’s statement made me want to vomit.
For me it is a disgrace that such a person, with such a high level of leadership incompetence and loss of reality, is allowed to call himself Federal Chancellor. A chancellor who throws so much mud at a federal minister is a disgrace to the office of chancellor. Every minute that this person remains in office is irreversible damage to the Federal Republic.’
Why not new elections in Germany immediately?
Why not new elections immediately? This is a question that the Chancellor is right to be asked. While Mr Scholz had accused his Finance Minister of making ideological demands, here he has to put up with the accusation of clinging to his chair for party-political reasons.
SPD and Greens without a majority in the Bundestag
This delay in favour of new elections is an obvious attempt to quickly sweep his own failures and shortcomings under the carpet and possibly still achieve something by January. After all, if federal elections were held today, the SPD and the Greens together would have just under 26% of the vote – a far cry from any kind of governing majority.
That the SPD and Greens, according to Olaf Scholz’s ideas, they could still achieve any majority for current bills in the Bundestag is, with the loss of votes from the FDP, only the realm of fantasy of a Chancellor considered to be unimaginative.
Opposition calls for immediate vote of confidence and new elections
The demands from the opposition CDU and its party leader Friedrich Merz for a vote of confidence in the coming week at the latest and the call for new elections clearly underline the fact that Mr Scholz and the remnants of his government have had their day.
In order to prevent damage to our country, Mr Scholz should now feel compelled to finally clear the field. But the Chancellor does not make mistakes. He prefers to forget them and hopes that others will forget them too.
Chancellor tries to divert attention from his own misdemeanours
Olaf Scholz’s four key points, which he used to argue for the dismissal of Finance Minister Christian Lindner, among others, can actually be traced back to mistakes made by the Chancellor and his Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection Robert Habeck (The Greens).
The Ministry of Economic Affairs is to blame for high energy costs
The allegedly high energy costs in Germany are based almost exclusively on the astronomically increased grid fees, which are the responsibility of Robert Habeck and are based on laws from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Grid fees have doubled since 2023
This is because the grid fees for electricity have simply doubled from 2023 to 2024. In the case of gas, the big hammer is yet to come, which in turn is also the responsibility of the Greens, namely through the drastic increase in depreciation options for gas network operators. Wanting to put a cap on unspecified companies here is just another attempt at distraction. The responsibility for this high cost factor lies solely with the Chancellor and his Economics Minister.
Capping grid fees penalises citizens twice over
There is no question that good depreciation options are important for companies, but in the end they must not jeopardise the purchasing power of citizens and the profitability of other companies. The grid charges show where Scholz’s proposed depreciation options are leading. And in the end, taxpayers will pay twice and three times over for Habeck and Scholz’s misconduct and wrong decisions.
Scholz subsidy policy distributes ideologically motivated election gifts
And while Olaf Scholz is firing accusations of subsidies at the FDP with a watering can, Habeck and he are continuing to sink subsidies into light-tower projects and handing out ideologically motivated election gifts to a few clientele companies from the chancellor’s electorate by capping grid fees.
Taxpayers to pay for Habeck’s investment premium
All of this, as well as the investment premium, Robert Habeck’s new pet project, is to be financed by suspending the debt ceiling (paragraph 115 of the German Grundgesetz) by declaring a non-existent emergency situation. At least that’s what the Chancellor said in his statement on Wednesday evening.
Or instead of reforming paragraph 115 (which presumably even the CDU would have gone along with), or cancelling laws that were clearly made to the detriment of the German economy, the still-chancellor prefers to choose his own preservation of power and the blinkered prospect of a possible re-election.
The German chancellor doesn’t make mistakes, or does he?
Scholz would rather cause even more costs for the German taxpayer through further debt than initiate real reforms. Reforms that could clearly reveal his failure and his massive mistakes in advance. The Federal Chancellor can deceive and disguise. As finance minister under Angela Merkel, he has been more than familiar with the state of the nation since 2018. But Olaf Scholz doesn’t make mistakes and if he does, he can’t remember them later. Time to finally put an end to this. Anything else, Mr Scholz, would be undignified and detrimental to Germany.
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