German chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition collapses – what went wrong?

After Olaf Scholz fired a key minister, Germany's coalition collapsed. But political turmoil in the country couldn’t have come at a worse time

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends a session on November 13, 2024
(Image credit: JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images)

German chancellor Olaf Scholz has “just pulled the plug on his coalition and lost his parliamentary majority”, with polls implying that his Social Democrat party will be defeated in the snap election called for 23 February, says Guy Chazan in the Financial Times. The current government will be put to a confidence vote on 16 December, which it is expected to lose.

Despite Scholz’s low approval ratings and the wish of some in the SPD that he be replaced by the popular defence minister Boris Pistorius as SPD leader, party leaders have “rallied round” and most expect Scholz to be the name on next year’s ballot. His standing among some colleagues has “paradoxically improved” since the government’s collapse – he has been hailed as a hero who “finally lanced the boil, ending a dysfunctional government riven by ideological conflict”. Scholz fired finance minister Christian Lindner, leader of the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), for refusing to suspend the debt brake to allow more funding for Ukraine, effectively ejecting the party from the coalition.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
Emily Hohler
Politics editor

Emily has worked as a journalist for more than thirty years and was formerly Assistant Editor of MoneyWeek, which she helped launch in 2000. Prior to this, she was Deputy Features Editor of The Times and a Commissioning Editor for The Independent on Sunday and The Daily Telegraph. She has written for most of the national newspapers including The Times, the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, The Evening Standard and The Daily Mail, She interviewed celebrities weekly for The Sunday Telegraph and wrote a regular column for The Evening Standard. As Political Editor of MoneyWeek, Emily has covered subjects from Brexit to the Gaza war.

Aside from her writing, Emily trained as Nutritional Therapist following her son's diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes in 2011 and now works as a practitioner for Nature Doc, offering one-to-one consultations and running workshops in Oxfordshire.