POLITICO
German government coalition collapses as Scholz sacks Finance Minister Lindner
Christian Lindner’s liberals are making demands for economic reforms that are hard for other coalition members to accept.
GERMANY-POLITICS-COALITION
Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced he would fire his Finance Minister Christian Lindner over persistent disagreements about economic reforms. | Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images
November 6, 2024 9:01 pm CET
By Hans von der Burchard
BERLIN — Germany’s three-party ruling coalition collapsed on Wednesday evening after Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced he would fire his Finance Minister Christian Lindner over persistent disagreements about economic reforms.
Crisis talks in the coalition of Scholz’s Social Democratic Party, the Greens and Lindner’s Free Democratic Party had come to a head after the FDP issued a paper with demands for liberal economic reforms that were difficult for the other two parties to accept.
During a dramatic meeting of leaders from the three parties on Wednesday evening in the chancellery, Lindner told Scholz he saw no way of continuing the coalition and urged him to pave the way for snap elections.
This resulted in Scholz announcing he would sack him, two people with knowledge of the discussions told POLITICO.
Although Scholz could potentially seek to continue ruling in a minority government, he has no majority to pass a budget, increasing the likelihood of a vote of no confidence and snap elections — potentially in early March.
This story is being updated.
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