Germany faces early elections as coalition collapses

On Wednesday, several significant events occurred in the West, described as a "political earthquake." The first is Donald Trump's victory in the White House race, and the second is German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's dismissal of Christian Lindner, the Minister of Finance and head of the coalition FDP.

The collapse of the coalition government means that early elections in our western neighbour are almost certain. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier addressed this issue.

"The end of the coalition is not the end of the world. It is a political crisis that we must put behind us and which we will put behind us," said Steinmeier, emphasising that German democracy is strong and the Basic Law provides clear guidelines for further actions.

The German President declared that he is ready to make the decision to dissolve the Bundestag to allow parliamentary elections to take place. "The country needs a stable majority and a government capable of taking action," he pointed out.

Since 2021, Germany has been governed by a three-party coalition of the SPD, the Greens, and the FDP, but it collapsed on Wednesday after Christian Lindner's resignation from the FDP. Olaf Scholz argued that the collapse was due to differences of opinion regarding economic and budgetary policy.

This decision deprived the government of its majority in the Bundestag. Scholz announced that he would subject his government to a vote of confidence and then call for elections.

President Steinmeier also referred to Donald Trump's victory over Kamala Harris. He stated that "this is not the time for tactics and skirmishes," but "a time for reason and responsibility." He expressed the expectation that all responsible parties will be able to meet the scale of the challenges.