Consequences of the government crisis –
Justice Minister resigns and criticizes Scholz – Union calls for confidence vote next week
Of the FDP government members, only the transport minister remains in office and leaves his party. Lindner’s successor will be a Scholz confidant.
Published today at 9:00 a.m
Olaf Scholz and Jörg Kukies: The German Chancellor’s previous economic advisor will be the successor to the dismissed Finance Minister Lindner.
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- Jörg Kukies replaces Christian Lindner as the new German Finance Minister.
- Volker Wissing remains transport minister and leaves the FDP.
- Justice Minister Buschmann criticizes Olaf Scholz’s lack of economic strategies.
- The Union is calling on Scholz to ask the vote of confidence in the Bundestag next week.
The liberal German Transport Minister Volker Wissing wants to remain in office despite the break in the “traffic light” coalition and is leaving the FDP. Wissing said in Berlin that he did not want to join another party.
The coalition of Social Democrats, FDP and Greens collapsed on Wednesday evening due to, among other things, the dispute over the budget. Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired Finance Minister and FDP leader Christian Lindner.
Chancellor advisor Kukies becomes the new Federal Finance Minister
The previous economic advisor to German Chancellor Scholz (SPD), Jörg Kukies, will be the successor to the dismissed Finance Minister Lindner. The German Press Agency learned this from government circles.
The Social Democrat Kukies is currently State Secretary in the Chancellery and is considered one of Scholz’s most important advisors. He is his man for economics and finance and negotiates the final documents of the G7 and G20 summits for him.
Scholz fired Lindner on Wednesday after an unprecedented falling out. Scholz accused Lindner of multiple breaches of trust and small-mindedness. Lindner then accused Scholz of a “calculated break in the coalition”.
Accusations from the Minister of Justice to Scholz
Of the four previous FDP ministers, only Transport Minister Volker Wissing wants to remain in office. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann has officially asked Chancellor Scholz to dismiss him. In a statement that the FDP politician published on Thursday, he wrote that Lindner had made suggestions to lead Germany out of a difficult economic situation. Instead, the Chancellor presented a paper with measures that hardly appear suitable for bringing about a substantial economic turnaround for the better.
Lindner then suggested that the SPD, Greens and FDP should work together to clear the way to an early federal election. Ultimately, the Chancellor declared that he no longer wanted to work with Lindner and thereby terminated the coalition. “It is unclear to me why he rejected the orderly path to new elections in order to then terminate the coalition himself and seek new elections in completely unclear circumstances,” explained Buschmann. “I really enjoyed my job as Federal Minister of Justice,” wrote the FDP politician.
Merz demands a vote of confidence from Scholz next week
The Union faction (CDU/CSU) has asked Scholz to ask the Bundestag for a vote of confidence next week at the latest. The traffic light coalition “failed,” said parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz (CDU) on Thursday after a parliamentary group meeting in Berlin. The Union parliamentary group unanimously decided on the demand that the vote of confidence should take place next week at the latest.
Merz says he wants to present this demand to the Chancellor in a personal conversation on Thursday afternoon, after which he will also speak to German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier about the current situation.
Germany cannot afford to have a government for several months that no longer has a majority in the Bundestag, said Merz. The evening before the coalition break, Scholz had announced that he would ask the Bundestag for a vote of confidence in mid-January, thereby clearing the way for new elections at the end of March. At the same time, Scholz announced talks with Merz about the transition period until the new Bundestag elections.
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt said after the special meeting of the Union parliamentary group: “A remaining traffic light cannot have the right to continue to govern.” Scholz remaining in the office of Chancellor until March would be “arrogant and disrespectful to the voters.” Scholz no longer has the trust of a majority in the Bundestag.
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