Deep cracks are now becoming visible in the German government: when will Scholz, Habeck and Lindner stop?

The call for new elections is becoming louder

The FDP has begun a vote to remain in the federal government. This was announced by board member Christopher Gohl (49) on Chancellor Olaf Scholz (65).

In addition, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (67) invited CDU chairman Friedrich Merz (67) for an interview on Thursday evening, according to information from the newspaper ‘Bild’. Although this is a routine meeting, the timing could hardly be more explosive. The endless government crisis will probably be discussed during the Federal President’s conversation with the opposition leader.

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The CDU/CSU’s hope is to take advantage of the dire research situation at the traffic light. Markus Söder (56), leader of the CSU, is also calling for new elections – this summer. If there were federal elections next Sunday, the Union would get as much as 30 percent of the vote, the FDP would have to fight to get back into parliament, the Greens and the SPD would be between twelve and fifteen percent, well behind the AfD with 22 percent.

Steinmeier is preparing a new grand coalition

Not that new elections would come about that easily. The constitution formulates clear conditions for an early election of the Bundestag: The condition is that the Bundestag is dissolved by the Federal President, which in turn also contains conditions. In the current case, Chancellor Scholz would have to ask the Bundestag for a vote of confidence. If he were to miss the majority, the Federal President could, according to the Constitution, dissolve the Bundestag on the Chancellor’s proposal.

If the coalition collapses, Federal President Steinmeier will likely first call on the Union to revive the ‘Grand Coalition’ – a governing coalition of the parties with the largest mandate in parliament. Steinmeier already achieved something similar during the government crisis in 2017. At that time, he managed to get the SPD to join a grand coalition under then Chancellor Angela Merkel (69), after negotiations with the Greens and the FDP had failed.

The glue of power is crumbling

The intensive discussions make it clear that the stability of the traffic light coalition is starting to falter. The financial resources from the special funds, the use of which was limited by a ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court, have so far served to support the government. These means often allowed disagreements between coalition partners to be resolved financially rather than through compromise. The government now faces the challenge of resolving internal conflicts without these financial buffers – a task that has caused it difficulties in the past.

But what holds the government together? The fear of losing power. At least that is what Albrecht von Lucke, editor of the “Blättern für deutsche und internationalpolitik” says about the German “Tagesschau”. “The only thing that holds them together is the glue of power, that is, the knowledge of the three parties that they would all lose in new elections.”