The ruling coalition / Germany is disintegrated on the eve of early elections

2024-11-07 15:42:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

In Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's governing coalition fell apart today after the finance minister was sacked and three other ministers resigned on Wednesday night from the ranks of the Free Democrats, a business-oriented party. Chancellor Scholz will lead the country with a minority government of Social Democrats in coalition with the Green Party, while he said he will seek a vote of confidence in parliament on January 15, which could lead to snap elections in March. The German opposition opposed such a plan.

German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz will govern with a minority government after the dramatic decision to sack Finance Minister Christian Lindner. He said that Germany needs clarity on its political path for the future.

"Too often the necessary compromises were victims of theatrical clashes and noisy ideological demands. Too often, Minister Lindner blocked laws in meaningless forms. Very often he engaged in low party tactics. Too often he violated my trust. He unilaterally withdrew from the budget deal after we had agreed after long negotiations. There is no basis of trust for further cooperation. The work of the government is impossible in this form", declared Chancellor Scholz.

Chancellor Scholz said he will submit a motion of confidence to the German parliament on January 15, so that lawmakers can decide whether Germany should hold early elections at the end of March. Elections in Germany were scheduled to be held in September.

The sacked minister Lindner accused Chancellor Scholz of governing, as he said, without ambition. Mr. Linder has opposed the increase in taxes, or the increase in Germany's public debt.

"Olaf Scholz has long failed to understand the need for an economic revival in our country. For a long time, he is not paying attention to the economic concerns of our citizens... His proposals are empty, without ambition and do not contribute to overcoming the obstacles to the economic growth of our country", he declared.

After the dismissal of Minister Lindner, three other ministers from his party resigned from the government, bringing down the ruling coalition. But on Thursday morning, Transport Minister Volker Wissing abruptly withdrew his resignation, saying he had decided to stay in Mr Scholz's government and abandoned his party.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union, Friedrich Merz, the largest center-right opposition party, opposed Chancellor Scholz's plan to wait until January for a vote of confidence on his government. He said the coalition does not have a majority in the German parliament and called for a motion early next week.

"We have a number of international commitments and decisions in the European Union for which we need a government that is capable of acting. We cannot have a government that does not enjoy a majority for a few months, then an election campaign for a few more months, and then weeks of coalition negotiations. We have to hurry," he said.

As part of their orientation, Chancellor Scholz's center-left Social Democrats and the Green Party, which is part of the governing coalition, propose large state investments in the economy and oppose proposals by the Free Democrats to cut programs social welfare. /VOA