風蕭蕭_Frank
以文會友
德國聯合政府因舒爾茨解雇財政部長而垮台
作者：Andreas Rogal 2024 年 11 月 6 日
“他多次辜負了我的信任”，總理在談到財政部長克裏斯蒂安·林德納時說道。
德國執政聯盟已垮台：社會民主黨 (SPD) 總理奧拉夫·舒爾茨解雇了自由黨 FDP 的財政部長克裏斯蒂安·林德納。
德國所謂的“紅綠燈”聯盟的領導人——社民黨、自民黨和綠黨——當晚聚集在柏林總理府。
在多家媒體報道這一消息約一小時後，舒爾茨麵對媒體，毫不含糊地批評了他的財政部長。
“他（林德納）辜負了我的太多次信任”，舒爾茨說，並補充說“不再有進一步合作的信任基礎”，因為自民黨領導人“更關心自己的客戶和自己政黨的生存”，總理說。
聯盟領導人會議被廣泛報道為聯盟的“成敗”會議，尤其是林德納在會議前夕暗示他不太擔心後者。
在回應舒爾茨的尖銳言論時，林德納指責總理“精心策劃破壞聯盟”，他的聯盟夥伴“甚至不接受”自民黨提出的扭轉經濟的建議“作為討論的基礎”。
關於如何重振疲軟經濟的分歧
聯盟內部已經存在一段時間的分歧，2025 年的預算麵臨嚴重壓力，德國經濟表現令人失望，因此對如何麵對和解決問題的建議也越來越不同。
許多聯盟議員曾希望，在唐納德·特朗普再次獲得美國總統職位後，內部紛爭將被擱置一旁，轉而關注未來的地緣政治挑戰。
社民黨領導人拉爾斯·克林貝爾上午告訴德國公共廣播公司 ARD：“我希望現在每個人都能拋開黨派策略，希望大家今晚在聯盟委員會上互相直視，再次意識到自己現在承擔的責任。”
柏林智庫雅克·德洛爾中心副主任、政治分析師 Thu Nguyen 表示，這並不是在社交媒體上發表評論。
舒爾茨還確認，他將在 1 月 15 日之前向聯邦議院提出不信任投票，為最遲在 3 月底舉行議會選舉鋪平道路。
經濟和綠色轉型部長羅伯特·哈貝克在代表綠黨舉行的新聞發布會上表示，從他們的角度來看，“今晚沒有必要以這種方式結束”，因為已經提出了達成協議的建議。
他後來補充說，為了穩定，“我們現在將迅速為新選舉掃清道路”，同時在此之前“全麵”履行政府職責。
德國自封的硬漢無法接受舒爾茨解雇他
作者：Kamil Kowalcze 2024 年 11 月 7 日
(彭博社)——被踢出德國執政聯盟後不到 24 小時，前財政部長克裏斯蒂安·林德納（Christian Lindner）一直在努力解釋發生了什麽。
周四，45 歲的林德納在自由民主黨總部接受記者采訪時被問及，當天早上醒來時，德國的政治生活沒有他而繼續，他感覺如何。起初，他一反常態地失語，花了一點時間整理思緒。
“我現在處於一種境地，心裏有很多想法，”他說。“我相信可能還有其他選擇。”這位通常熱情洋溢的財政部長努力控製自己的情緒，這說明導致三黨聯盟垮台並讓德國在明年初提前舉行大選的令人震驚的事件。這可能是他告別德國政壇的開始——林德納的政黨民調結果非常糟糕，可能會在即將到來的大選中被徹底淘汰。
德國總理奧拉夫·舒爾茨表示，他之所以解雇林德納，是因為他拒絕增加借款以重振該國低迷的經濟，並為向烏克蘭提供超過 120 億歐元（130 億美元）的援助提供資金。相反，這位財政部長要求削減其他領域的開支。
“這意味著道路無法改善，學校無法發展，我們無法投資研發，也無法為企業和就業做任何事情，”舒爾茨在周四的簡報會上說。“這就是我解雇聯邦財政部長的原因。”
盡管舒爾茨政府長期以來一直運轉失靈，但這一決定仍然這一切都令人感到意外，因為盡管林德納領導著政府中最小的政黨，但他一直在為聯盟製定議程。
他削弱了綠黨加速向可再生家庭供暖係統轉變的計劃，並推動了 2024 年預算的支出削減。他削弱了歐盟關於逐步淘汰內燃機的規定，收緊了領取失業救濟金的規定，並調整了所得稅等級以應對通貨膨脹。
他真正的對手往往是綠黨經濟部長羅伯特·哈貝克，他常常通過說服舒爾茨支持他而獲勝，暗中威脅說，如果他不按自己的意願行事，舒爾茨可能會辭職。
“任何讀過上次選舉宣言的人都不會否認存在根本的政治和綱領分歧，”林德納周四表示。“事實證明，我們之所以能夠彌合許多政治分歧，是因為有錢可用。”
隨著經濟難以增長、稅收收入縮減以及法院嚴厲打擊特殊預算工具，資金不再能夠彌合這些分歧。
林德納以自己的聲譽和作為政府中最不妥協成員的記錄而自豪，他給人一種很享受作為強大財政部長地位的感覺。他喜歡受到關注，並迅速斥責下屬或競爭對手，或就應該如何做事發表演講。
局外人常常對舒爾茨會如何遷就林德納感到困惑。現在，林德納正試圖接受自己的垮台，他的一位資深自由民主黨同事拋棄了他，這位同事選擇留在政府擔任交通部長，而不是追隨他的黨魁。
他認為自己是聯盟中最精明的戰術家，通常比他的夥伴領先幾步。但他沒有想到，舒爾茨會準備推翻自己的政府，以便最終與他對抗。
“我聽到了很多關於自民黨和我自己的話，”林德納說。“其中一些影響了我，一些值得深思。其他一些則完全是錯誤的。”
German coalition government collapses as Scholz fires his finance minister
By Andreas Rogal 06/11/2024
"He has broken my trust too many times", the chancellor said of his Finance Minister Christian Lindner.
The ruling German coalition has collapsed: Social Democrat (SPD) Chancellor Olaf Scholz has sacked Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the liberal FDP party.
The leaders of what is known in Germany as the "traffic light" coalition - SPD, FDP and the Greens - had gathered at the Chancellery in Berlin in the evening.
About an hour after the news was broken by several media outlets, Scholz faced the press and criticised his finance minister in no uncertain terms.
"He (Lindner) has broken my trust too many times", Scholz said, adding that there is "no more basis of trust for further cooperation" as the FDP leader is "more concerned with his own clientele and the survival of his own party," according to the chancellor.
The coalition leaders meeting was widely reported as a "make or break" meeting for the coalition, with Lindner, in particular, having hinted in the run-up that he was not too worried about the latter.
In his reaction to Scholz's scathing remarks, Lindner accused the chancellor of a "calculated break-up of the coalition" and his coalition partners of "not even accepting" the FDP's proposals for turning the economy around "as a basis for discussion".
Discord about how to revive an ailing economy
The coalition had been at odds for a while, with serious strains on the budget for 2025 and a disappointing performance by the German economy eliciting increasingly different suggestions on how to face and solve the problems.
Many coalition lawmakers had hoped that, after Donald Trump secured the US presidency once more, internal strife would be put aside to focus on the geopolitical challenges ahead.
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil told German public broadcaster ARD in the morning: "I hope that everyone will now throw party tactics overboard, that everyone will look each other in the eye in the coalition committee this evening and realise once again what responsibility they now bear."
Political analyst Thu Nguyen, Deputy Director at the Berlin-based think tank Jacques Delors Centre, said it was not meant to be in a comment on social media.
Scholz also confirmed he would bring a no-confidence vote to the Bundestag by 15 January, paving the way for parliamentary elections by the end of March at the latest.
Robert Habeck, minister for the economy and the green transition, said in a press conference on behalf of the Greens that, from their perspective, "it wasn't necessary that the evening ended like this", as suggestions for an agreement had been presented.
He later added that, for the sake of stability, "we will now swiftly clear the way for new elections" while fulfilling the duties of government "in their entirety" until then.
Germany's Self-Styled Tough Guy Can't Process Scholz Fired Him
By Kamil Kowalcze November 07, 2024
Christian Lindner, left, and Olaf Scholz, in Berlin, on Nov. 7. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg (Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg)
(Bloomberg) -- Less than 24 hours after he was kicked out of Germany’s governing coalition, former Finance Minister Christian Lindner was struggling to explain what had happened.
Appearing before reporters at the headquarters of his Free Democrats party on Thursday, Lindner, 45, was asked how he’d felt when he woke up that morning as Germany’s political life raced on without him. At first, he appeared uncharacteristically lost for words, taking a moment to gather his thoughts.
“I am in a situation and have a lot on my mind,” he said. “I believe there might have been another option.”
The sight of the normally ebullient finance chief struggling to control his emotions speaks to the shocking events that brought down the three-party coalition and set Germany on course for a snap election early next year.
It might be the beginning of his farewell to German politics — Lindner’s party is polling so badly that it might be completely wiped out in the coming election.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he’d dismissed Lindner because he refused to increase borrowing in order to revive the country’s lackluster economy and to finance more than €12 billion ($13 billion) of aid to Ukraine. Instead, the finance chief was demanding spending cuts in other areas.
“That would mean roads couldn’t be improved, schools couldn’t be developed, that we couldn’t invest in research and development or do anything for companies and jobs,” Scholz said at his own briefing on Thursday. “That is the reason why I dismissed the federal finance minister.”
For all the long running dysfunction of the Scholz administration, the decision still came as a surprise because Lindner has consistently set the agenda for the coalition, despite leading the smallest party in the government.
He had weakened a plan by the Greens to accelerate the shift to renewable household heating systems and he pushed through spending cuts for the 2024 budget. He diluted European Union rules governing the phase-out of combustion engines, tightened the rules for accessing unemployment benefits and adjusted income tax brackets to account for inflation.
Often his real opponent was Economy Minister Robert Habeck of the Greens and often he came out on top by persuading Scholz to back him, with the implicit threat that he might quit the government unless he got his way.
“No one who has read the election manifestos at the last election will deny that there are fundamental political and programmatic differences,” Lindner said Thursday. “It turned out that we were only able to bridge many political differences because money was available.”
With the economy struggling to grow, tax revenue shrinking and the courts cracking down on special budget vehicles, the money is no longer there to smooth over those differences.
Lindner took pride in his reputation and his record as the most uncompromising member of the government and he had the air of someone who enjoyed his status as the head of the powerful finance ministry. He thrived on the attention and was quick to dress down subordinates or rivals, or to dispense lectures on how things should be done.
Outsiders were often baffled by how far Scholz would go to accommodate Lindner. Now it’s Lindner who is trying to come to terms with his downfall, abandoned by a senior Free Democrat colleague who opted to stay in the government as transport minister rather than follow his party leader.
He’d considered himself the shrewdest tactician in the coalition who was usually several steps ahead of his partners. But he didn’t calculate that Scholz would be prepared to bring down his own government in order to finally stand up to him.
“I have heard many words about the FDP and about myself,” Lindner said. “Some of it affects me, some of it is food for thought. Others are simply wrong.”
