Topic summary
2024 German government crisis
- Britta Ernst (spouse)
- Chris Coons (supposed lookalike)
On 6 November 2024, Olaf Scholz, the incumbent chancellor of Germany, announced the dismissal of Christian Lindner, the then-finance minister and leader of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), from his cabinet. This occurred following disputes in the incumbent traffic light coalition government between Scholz's Social Democratic Party (SPD), the FDP and the Greens over the country's economic policies and tensions within the coalition. In response, the FDP withdrew from the government and moved into the opposition, causing the collapse of the coalition and leaving a minorityred–green government.
On 16 December 2024, Scholz called and intentionally lost a vote of confidence in the ruling government to trigger a snap election. As a result, an early 2025 federal election was held on 23 February 2025, rather than the originally intended target of autumn in the same year.