Germany’s left-wing leader collapses government amid unease around Trump presidential win

Germany’s coalition government collapsed on Wednesday after left-wing Prime Minister Olaf Scholz fired Finance Minister Christian Lindner, just one day after President-elect Donald Trump won the U.S. elections.

Scholz’s decision splits his three-party coalition apart, ousting Lindner’s party from the coalition and leaving the two remaining parties he still has the support of without enough seats in parliament to hold a majority, according to multiple reports. Scholz promised that he’d continue governing with his now-minority coalition until the year’s end.

“I would have liked to have spared you this difficult decision,” Scholz said during a press conference on Wednesday, according to The New York Times. “Especially in times like these, when uncertainty is growing.”

Lindner was fired because he disagreed with Scholz on what Germany’s economic policies should look like, according to The Associated Press. Two other officials from Lindner’s party, the Free Democrats, resigned.

“Olaf Scholz has sadly shown that he does not have the strength to give our country a new start,” Lindner told reporters on Wednesday, referring to Scholz’s economic proposals as “dull and unambitious,” according to the NYT.

Scholz vowed to hold a vote of confidence in Parliament in January, according to the NYT. If Scholz receives a vote of no confidence, it is likely snap elections will be held soon thereafter.

The prime minister’s decision comes one day after Trump’s win in the U.S. presidential elections, which has put Germany and other European nations on edge given his more skeptical approach than President Joe Biden’s seemingly unconditional relationship with Europe.

During his first term, Trump took issue with the trade imbalance between the U.S. and Europe. The German Economic Institute (IW) estimates that a potential trade war between the U.S. and Germany could cost the country almost $200 billion dollars, according to Politico EU.

Trump also felt in his first term that it was unfair that the U.S. was paying the lion’s share of funding for defense spending in NATO while European countries were failing to meet their spending targets. Trump threatened on several occasions during his first term to withdraw the U.S. from NATO if European members continued to fail to meet their ends of the deal.

Though Scholz congratulated Trump on his presidential win on Tuesday, he also urged that European nations strive to rely more closely on each other, according to Reuters. Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron are closely coordinating with other European leaders on the matter.

“The European Union must stand close together and act in a united manner,” Scholz told reporters on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

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