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Ministers in the German government are reshuffling after its ruling coalition effectively collapsed. The opposition have called for an earlier vote of no confidence.
ADVERTISEMENTGerman leader Olaf Scholz has replaced his finance minister with current state secretary in the chancellery Jörg Kukies, according to domestic outlets.
Kukies, who worked at Goldman Sachs for 17 years, is considered a close advisor of Scholz and belongs to his centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD).
The politician was previously state secretary for financial market policy and European policy.
Kukies will replace former Finance Minister Christian Lindner, who was sacked from the country’s unpopular ruling coalition on Wednesday evening.
His dismissal has plunged the government into political chaos with Linder’s centre-right Free Democratic Party (FDP) withdrawing its ministers and leaving the remaining parties without a parliamentary majority.
The ministers for transport, justice and education all announced their resignations.
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier noted that it is rare that a government in Germany would not have a majority before the end of its legislative period.
He said the country’s constitution had made provisions for such cases and that the situation was a “political crisis that we must, and will, put behind us.”
Economy Minister Robert Habeck, who belongs to the Green party, has said his ministers will remain in office until the vote “in order to keep the country capable of acting.”
However, without a parliamentary majority, the now two-way coalition would have to collect individual votes from other parties to pass laws.
Intra-coalition tensions reach their peak
Linder clashed with his coalition partners over economic policy.
The question of how to plug a debt hole in the country’s budget brought tensions between the parties to the surface over the summer.
Those tensions reached breaking point this week, after Lindner published an economic paper in which several of his demands — including postponing climate targets and restricting social spending — were steadfastly rejected by his colleagues.
“He (Lindner) has broken my trust too many times”, Scholz said on Wednesday, adding that he believed his former finance minister was more concerned with the interests of his own party than co-operating with his coalition partners.
Lindner, for his part, said that Scholz refused to “recognise the need for a new economic awakening in our country.”
ADVERTISEMENTThe coalition, which also includes the environmentalist Green party, has seen its popularity plummet since April after bitter infighting on key issues.
According to a poll conducted by public broadcaster ARD, just 14% of the German public was satisfied with the government as of October this year — the lowest rating for a ruling government in Germany in decades.
Scholz has called for a confidence vote on 15 January, with a general election set for the end of March.
However opposition parties, including the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), have rejected this out of hand.
ADVERTISEMENTThere was “absolutely no reason to put off the confidence vote to January” the CDU’s leader Friedrich Merz said, adding that the coalition had lost their mandate to govern alongside their collapse.
Experts have warned that any interim period of instability could have consequences for Germany’s ability to govern, both domestically and as Europe’s biggest economy.
“This means that Germany will not be able to play a leading role at the European level. While Germany has not distinguished itself in this respect over the past three years, we are now going to see even less initiative, flexibility and predictability coming out of Berlin” Jana Puglierin, head of the European Council of Foreign Relation’s Berlin office, said.
Merz and Scholz are expected to discuss the no-confidence vote on Thursday.
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