The Social Democratic Chancellor led his coalition poorly and ended it badly. The fact that the SPD wants to campaign with him is absurd.
The German “progress coalition” made up of the SPD, Greens and FDP was a problematic alliance from the start. Now she is at the end, and so is her chancellor. But does he see that?
Denes Erdos / AP
From the outset, the German government coalition made up of the SPD, Greens and FDP found it difficult to realistically assess the situation in the country. The so-called “traffic light” was an alliance of ideology, error and self-deception. In this respect, it was logical that their protagonists stumbled into their exit in exactly this mode.
The Social Democrats are the furthest removed from reality. This is shown by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s almost absurd idea that, after the crashing collapse of his coalition, he could only ask the vote of confidence when it suits him in the election campaign, i.e. at the beginning of next year.
The opposition and the vast majority of the population are rightly appalled: those who so often talk about the well-being of the country, decency and “respect” for their fellow citizens will, of course, immediately clear the way for new elections after the coalition breaks. Everything else is shabby.
No chancellor has spoken of “leadership” more often
The Chancellor is now trying to use an imaginary state-political responsibility to force the Union to agree to remaining “traffic light” legislative proposals that supposedly do not tolerate any delay. The CDU leader Friedrich Merz has already deconstructed this maneuver: Of course, his party will not close off initiatives that are important for the country, he said – but first after Scholz asked the question of trust, ideally next week.
The SPD is also making a breathtaking mistake when it considers it promising to run again in the upcoming election campaign with the failed “traffic light” Chancellor Scholz as the candidate for chancellor. No German head of government had worse popularity ratings than him; no one talked about “leadership” more often and led less; No one in the office cut such a speechless, lost figure.
His party no longer has any sense of who it is actually conducting politics for. Instead of creating halfway reasonable conditions for business and work in difficult times, it has given in to green transformation fantasies. Instead of consistently advocating for the interests of working people, it has focused on the recipients of state transfer payments (most of whom do not even vote for them).
More of what is already not working
During the election campaign you will see how the party relies on even more of what is already not working: more Scholz, more pensions and citizens’ money, more “fight against the right”, more “prudent” social democratic “peace policy”. This means that the SPD should at best still reach its unshakable core voter base of 15 percent.
The FDP leader Christian Lindner, who was recently quite obviously working towards being thrown out by Scholz in view of the catastrophic state election results and surveys, is also mistaken: it would have had more dignity if he had left of his own free will.
The Liberals could certainly have justified why they no longer want to support the debt policy and the anti-business climate policy of their red-green partners. In any case, they only ended up in this government constellation because of the misjudgment that they could work with the SPD and the Greens without offending their own clientele. But a little cannabis release, a little transgender-friendly politics and the label “progressive coalition” were not enough to govern well in the interests of middle-class liberal voters.
The Greens’ great illusion is that there are popular party majorities for the great “socio-ecological transformation”, for an overzealous climate agenda or for feminist foreign policy. Their high moral tone no longer fits the times. Defense, economy and migration are the priorities today, and these issues are currently being addressed somewhat credibly by other parties. Red and green are outdated.
