​Political meltdown: The Hindu Editorial on the crisis in Germany

The collapse of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition in Germany last week has plunged Europe’s largest and a recession-affected economy deeper into crisis. The three-way coalition, involving Mr. Scholz’s Social Democrats, Greens and pro-market Free Democratic Party, was struggling for the past year to put up a united face amid public differences. As the economic crisis worsened, differences on a recovery also deepened, leading to Chancellor Scholz sacking his Finance Minister, Christian Lindner of the Free Democrats. While the Social Democrats and the Greens supported more borrowing and public spending to modernise and support industry and a shift towards environmental energy, Mr. Lindner advocated lower taxes and austerity measures. After Mr. Lindner’s firing, his party colleagues quit the government. Infighting and economic challenges had already turned the government unpopular. All three parties in the coalition lost support in recent months, while the Conservatives and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) saw a surge in opinion polls. Now that he has lost parliamentary majority, Mr. Scholz will have to depend on opposition parties to pass key policy measures, including the budget for 2025, through the Bundestag.

Mr. Scholz has so far resisted calls to face a vote of confidence quickly. Reports are that his plan is to run a minority government for a few more months. The Social Democrats say a collapse of the government at a time of multiple challenges would leave the country rudderless. But Mr. Scholz clinging on to power, heading an unpopular, minority government, is unlikely to resolve any of Germany’s critical problems. The continuing war in Ukraine has hurt the German economy, which is set to contract for a second consecutive year. The country has also seen a large influx of migrants in recent years — over six million in a decade — which the far-right AfD has used to trigger panic in society and drum up support for itself. And the return of Donald Trump, who is sceptical of American support for Ukraine and NATO’s role in general, is also a concern for Berlin. What Germany has to do is to bring in a decisive shift in its Ukraine policy, focusing on bringing the war to an end at the earliest through talks. And it should also take measures to pump-prime the economy and have policies to address the immigration challenge in a humanitarian fashion. Mr. Scholz, as a lame-duck Chancellor, is unlikely to take any decisive measure. What he can do is to face a vote of confidence immediately and prepare the country for snap elections.