On 6 November, the same day that Donald Trump was re-elected as US president, Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz dismissed his minister of finance, Christian Lindner – and the country’s ‘traffic light’ coalition government collapsed. Since then, an interim government has been in place: but its future is uncertain amid a rapidly changing world.

This week, Mark Leonard welcomes Jeremy Cliffe, ECFR’s editorial director, Janka Oertel, ECFR senior policy fellow and director of its Asia programme, and Jana Puglierin, senior policy fellow and head of ECFR’s Berlin office, to discuss the collapse of the German government coalition. What are the plans for the interim government? Who is Jörg Kukies? What happens if CDU leader Friedrich Merz doesn’t help Scholz out? What does the coalition collapse mean for budget, spending, and the debt break? And how will it impact Germany’s foreign policy, especially considering the war in Ukraine and Trump’s imminent return to the White House?

This podcast was recorded on 8 November 2024

Bookshelf:

Ein deutscher Kanzler: Olaf Scholz, der Krieg und die Angst | Der Kanzlerberichterstatter schreibt das Porträt des Kanzlers aus nächster Nähe by Daniel Brössler

No Trade Is Free: Changing Course, Taking on China, and Helping America's Workers by Robert Lighthizer

Freiheitsschock: Eine andere Geschichte Ostdeutschlands von 1989 bis heute by Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk

Better firefighting: Readying Europe for an age between war and peace by Nicu Popescu and Laurence Boone

Democracy and war: Politics and Identity in a time of global threats by Norbert Röttgen

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