(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.”
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