Germany faces political reshuffle as coalition crumbles
Commentators believe that the long-embroiled coalition government of Olaf Scholz had no prospects, and its collapse presents an opportunity for a new beginning. Could Friedrich Merz be the new chancellor?
"The end of the coalition is good news for Germany. Another year of this government would not have been beneficial for the country. (…) The self-proclaimed alliance of progress became a burden: the ruling parties showed contempt for one another, many Germans turned away from them, and the economy entered a state of recession, partly due to an unpredictable situation," writes Nicolas Richter in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Accelerated elections will be held in the spring.
The author explained that the coalition fell apart due to a dispute between the leftist parties—SPD and the Greens—and the much more right-leaning FDP from the outset. Chancellor Olaf Scholz's dismissal of Finance Minister Christian Lindner was the "logical consequence" of this.
According to Richter, Lindner forced the head of the government to make this decision by acting increasingly selfishly. "In the circle of the three party leaders forming the coalition, no one challenged previous arrangements as aggressively as Lindner. As the leader of the smallest party, he insisted that all other parties fundamentally change. From his point of view, this was even understandable. Participation in the coalition harmed no other party as much as it did the FDP," reads the "SZ".
Richter believes that accelerated elections create a chance for "a new government with a fresh team" without accumulated animosities. The author cautioned that no miracles should be expected. If the CDU/CSU are victorious, they will have to govern with the SPD and the Greens, which means renewed conflicts between the Greens and Bavaria's CSU. If this government also collapses, a majority for populists is threatened, warned the commentator from "Sueddeutsche Zeitung".
"Earthquake in Berlin"
"On the day of Trump's earthquake victory, the earth also moved in Berlin. The traffic light coalition (derived from the colours representing the parties: red – SPD, yellow – FDP, green – the Green Party) is now a thing of the past, an infamous history," writes Berthold Kohler in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
The commentator noted that all of political Berlin wished for a victory by Kamala Harris. Trump's programme sends shivers of terror to everyone in Germany's capital except the AfD.
"Germans, who don't like Trump (and vice versa), are in a difficult situation even without it. If the president-elect acts according to his nature and promises, times will become even more challenging. A trade war with America would affect the economy and the budget, which already has a significant deficit," Kohler warned.
"Trump's re-election forces Germany to change its defence, economic, and financial policies, something that should have happened long ago. A coalition already in crisis is incapable of this. SPD and the Greens do not want a shift in economic and energy policy, which Lindner demanded even before the American elections," concludes Kohler.
"Brutal but necessary political divorce"
"Lindner and Scholz have settled their accounts. Both are losers. One ran away from responsibility, the other suffered failure. Yet, now is precisely the time for responsible action," writes Christian Tretbar in "Tagesspiegel."
The commentator pointed out that Scholz's no-confidence vote, scheduled for January, had long been decided by the citizens: the chancellor and his coalition are among the "most disliked in the polls," with a significant majority supporting accelerated elections.
"Sense of decline"
The end of the coalition is not a reason for joy – assessed Stefan Reinecke in "Tageszeitung". The failure likely marks "the end of the long hegemony of left-wing liberals in the Federal Republic of Germany". The commentator writes that the coalition's collapse followed "months of agony", so it is no surprise, but the "dramatic timing" – the day after Trump's success, makes it appear melodramatic in the emotion-poor German politics – "a sense of decline".
The collapse of the coalition signifies the failure of liberal, climate-friendly politics based on social compromise in times of "a brutal turn to the right". "The next chancellor, barring a miracle, will be Friedrich Merz – a backward economic liberal, deaf to climate and social issues," assessed Reinecke. In his opinion, the political climate in Germany is increasingly determined by the AfD.
