Molly O'Neal
Divisions among the members of Germany’s fractious and unpopular governing coalition have reached a breaking point over the proposed budget for 2025. The conflict exposed the starkly different economic policy outlooks of the junior coalition parties — Greens and Liberals (FDP) — with the Social Democrat (SPD) Chancellor Olaf Scholz attempting furiously to mediate a compromise.
After an inconclusive make-or-break meeting on November 6 with the two feuding ministers — Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) and Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) — Scholz announced the firing of Lindner and the collapse of the governing coalition. A caretaker government of SPD and Greens would continue in power through December, with a vote of confidence in January and new elections in March.
The stubborn persistence until now of this much unloved coalition almost certainly reflected the reluctance of all three parties to face what could be a harsh reckoning in early elections, which, if the coalition had survived, would have been held next September.
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